Rise of the Straw-Hats
by X9-Killbot
Summary: A butterfly flapping its wings can change the weather down wind; so how can a few different outcomes of past events do to the present? More training, a bigger crew, a slightly different dream? The changes are endless and this is the story of those changes.
1. C1A1: Romance Dawn

**Chapter 1 East Blue arc 'Romance Dawn'**

 **I own nothing, all characters, places, and powers belong to their respective owners.**

 **Well, this is my first fan-fiction; I finally gone and written down my thoughts into words and put it out to the public for everyone to judge. I've had this idea stuck in my head for the better part of a year and it's evolved and been refined over that time period.**

 **I have all the way up to Loguetown outlined, just a few details here and there, and a few blanks to fill. I plan to have anywhere from 4k-6k words per chapter.**

 **Published: 11/7/2016**

 **Updated: 3/12/2017**

 **Beta: Slip Slowly Into Madness**

This tale begins with a small fishing boat. Roughly twenty feet long and seven feet wide, the wooden boat has but a single mast and sail with a small cabin behind the mast. There is a pile of rope with iron rods tied to the end on the bow of the deck. It and its passengers were sailing out to sea from Foosha Village with cheers, laughs, and wishes of good luck.

"There they go…" a waving pretty green-haired lady said with a large smile "…out to go and achieve his dream."

"Makino, I keep on saying that all they are going to accomplish is bringing shame onto this village." said a frowning gray-haired old man.

"Nonsense Mayor Woop Slap, they are going to make it big, and I know one thing. You're secretly cheering them on and are proud of what they are doing." Makino said as she started heading to the Party bar. She noticed with a smile that Dandan and her bandits waving at Luffy while trying to hide behind her bar.

Oblivious to the bandit's presence, Woop Slap continued with his rant, "Hmph, going to call that darned boyfriend of yours huh? I keep telling you that pirates are no good not only did you help raise a few but you're also dating one. You should just be happy running your bar, being involved with pirates is never good."

"You say that but I won't listen, now that Luffy is gone I can fulfill my promise I made to him." She said with a skip in her step as she ran to her bar.

"Hmph." Woop Slap scoffed at her retreating back before casting a long glance at the slowly fading silhouette in the distance, a slight, fond smile worked its way onto his wrinkled face as he whispered, "Good luck boy, you'll need it.", then headed back to his house to have a much-needed cup of tea after the day's excitement.

Out on the departing ship, a raven-haired boy with a worn straw hat on his head was the aforementioned Luffy, who was standing on the bow of the ship looking out into the waters with a large, beaming smile. With one last parting glance towards Dawn Island he said: "Sabo, I'm going."

"Ah" The girl behind him suddenly pointed to the port side, saying, in a soft monotone voice, "eel sea king."

A massive forest-green eel surfaced from the depths of the sea, swimming towards the small fishing vessel that the two were on with a ravenous gaze. With its immense sharp teeth, able to swallow half the boat in a single bite and red predatory eyes made it all the more intimidating.

With a pleased smirk, Luffy responded, "That's the Lord of the Coast. Someone I wanted to meet for a while now, I have a debt to repay after all."

"Ah…him, ok."

Widening his stance with his right arm back clenched in a fist, his muscles tensed in preparation as the Lord of the Coast drew closer. Just as the eel lunged forward in a burst of speed with his mouth open, Luffy thrust his fist forward punching the air in front of him. "Take my **Tobu Ken Taiho** **"**

Thinking that nothing was going to happen, the Lord of the Coast continued on before something peculiar occurred. A fist shaped indention formed on his left cheek deforming his face as it continued to drill forward. The Sea King's face and body were violently thrust back with the resounding crack of bones and teeth. Blood spurted out of the wounds caused by the attack and the Lord of the Coast howled in pain. With his senses muddled by the attack, he barely even noticed his body being dragged down. He struggled with all his might but he couldn't fight off his assailant and through the excruciating pain, he felt his body being torn apart as he sunk further and further down into his watery grave.

Back on the surface, a crouching Luffy was looking down with a harsh glare as the waters churned, red fluids slowly mixing in with the waters whipping up into a pink foam. With a whispered, "That's for Shanks", he turned away, grinning now that the debt was repaid and looking forward to the future adventure, he thrust his hands into the air yelling at the top of his lungs, "I'M GOING TO BE THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Watching from behind him, a small smile formed on the girl's face.

* * *

Waves crashed against the hull of a cruise ship, swaying the gigantic ship in a relaxed gentle rocking. The motion spraying a mist up into the air, sending a pleasant salty scent to be breathed in, and the breeze soothingly caressing the body. It was greatly appreciated by a short heavyset man in a sailor suit while he was leaning against the railing of the cruise ship 'The Blue Dolphin'.

" _What a beautiful day",_ thought Bob, gazing up into the sky. _"Though it is quite boring...just the way I like it."_

Over the muffled clinking of plates, glasses, and the joyous talks in the dining room, footsteps were heard approaching. Turning towards the sound, Bob saw his taller and fellow crewmate Andrew, walking up to him carrying a spyglass in his right hand.

"Whatcha' doing Andrew?" Bob greeted the man.

Andrew smiled at him and leaned over the railing with a searching gaze over the glistening waters. "I heard there was a whirlpool off the port bow and wanted to see it for myself."

"Oh."

Just as Andrew was going to take a look through his spyglass, he spotted something out in the distance.

"Why is there a fishing boat approaching us?"

"Hmmm?" Turning his head to the direction that Andrew was facing, Bob noticed a small boat that definitely wasn't meant to handle the type of sea like 'The Blue Dolphin'.

"That's strange… A boat like that shouldn't be out this far. They must've gotten lost."

Taking a closer look with his spyglass, Andrew informed his fellow sailor of what was on the ship, "Two people are on it; don't look like fishermen to me. There's no fishing net on the deck or over the side…odd. One of them is a beauty though... Hey Bob, how did you not notice them while you were staring out to sea?"

"I wasn't really paying attention to anything; it's too nice of a day for me to work."

"OI! Don't say that! What if instead of a fishing boat it was a pirate ship that approached, then we would be caught with our pants down because of your incompetence!"

Bob shrugged off Andrew's worries with a careless wave of his hand. "That's what the other eyes are for; we don't need everyone watching out for pirates."

Andrew ground his teeth in aggravation at seeing Bob's carefree demeanor. Didn't the fool know the dangers of pirates?!

While the two sailors were arguing and unknowingly capturing the attention of the surrounding crew members, the fishing boat sailed up to the port side of the cruise liner. The two occupants of the vessel, the boy and girl, in an amazing show of athleticism, jumped up to the deck and tied their boat to the railing.

Luffy looked to be in his late teens and was five foot seven inches tall with a sun-kissed tan from being outdoors. He was wearing an old straw hat with a red ribbon riding atop of messy black hair, a gruesome oddly shaped burn over his unseeing right eye; looking like a circle with a small triangle underneath pointing down, partially covered by his hair. Over his toned torso and arms was a red button up long sleeved shirt with three buttons undone, a pair of blue jeans clad his lower half, held up by a brown belt and brown boots covered his feet.

The girl, however, was the real eye catcher of the pair. Andrew's description of 'a beauty' fell short by a kilometer.

Just a tad shorter than the boy, her blue eyes were half-lidded and her silver hair was cut short at the bottom of her jaw. Her pale skin shone in the afternoon sunlight. She wore a light gray kimono with black edging. The neckline was wide, showing her shoulders and extended down to the obi showing the cleavage of her massive breasts. There were two chains, one holding the sides of the kimono from fully exposing her chest to the world, and the other extending down through her cleavage from a collar around her neck. Wrapped around her narrow waist was a black obi with the bow in the front, showing the curve of her wide hips. The kimono was cut off at the middle of the shins showing that her feet were clad in black flats with straps wound around her shins and calves, and her hands were covered by the large sleeves.

Andrew, who had noticed something in the corner of his eye turned away from the red-faced Bob and saw the two teenagers board their ship. His alarmed yell startled the others around him.

"Who are you people and why are you out here?"

In a soft monotone voice, the woman replied, "Ah….Akitsu."

The boy though was the complete opposite proclaiming in a loud, joyous voice, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be th-"

Before he could finish, a cannon ball whistled overhead and landed in the ocean with a booming splash, throwing up water like a large geyser. With a clamorous cry, someone shouted, "PIRATES!"

Heads swung toward the starboard side, where a monstrous ship approached. The hull of the ship was painted a bright pink, and the bow-figure was a duck. The sails had a red heart painted on them, and, what most terrified the crew, was the flag it flew. A foreboding skull with a heart on the side of it with two bones crossed into an X behind it. This was a jolly roger, as strange as it may appear, the universal symbol of a pirate.

"PIRATES!"

* * *

On top of the crow's nest, Minato, the pirate was on the lookout for easy prey. Searching through his spyglass, he saw the Blue dolphin lazily sailing by a short distance from the small island they were hiding behind. Informing the crew, he yelled below, "Notify the captain, there be a cruise liner to the North!"

Cheers of celebration for future guaranteed plunder of gold, food, and Beri followed the announcement.

Shortly following his announcement, a rugged female voice bellowed out, "No need! Raise the anchors! Unfurl the sails! Load the cannons! Let's go get'em boys!"

"Aye-Aye Lady Alvida!"

With a satisfied smirk on her face, the female captain scanned her crew and narrowed her gaze at the shaking boy hiding behind one of the water barrels. "Coby! Who is the most beautiful in all the seas?"

"Y-you are Lady Alvida", replied the boy in a scared tone. Coby was on the short side with pink hair in a bowl cut with tanned skin, and wearing thick black rimmed glasses with a white shirt that had blue stripes on his shoulders. He also wore black pants and brown boots.

Turning away from the towering woman, Coby internally fumed as he went to help the rest of the crew members get ready for the boarding. _"You ugly old whale."_

Truly, she was in no way a beautiful woman. A whale was a more fitting description. As wide as she was tall, freckles dotted across her nose, and black wavy hair fell down to her shoulders.

She wore a white cowgirl hat with a red plume, a pink plaid shirt stretched tightly across her torso with a dark blue coat lined with gold colored buttons and trimmings over it, and white pants with a purple sash for a belt that contained more jewels, and a flintlock pistol. On her feet were a pair of red and gold shoes, and four jeweled rings were on her right hand in which she wielded a large iron mace. The widest part of the mace was as thick as a man's torso covered in large sharp spikes, and on the handle was a large ring.

"Damn right, I am." She sneered at the Coby's retreating figure before turning to face the bow of the ship watching as they approached the cruise liner while instructing her crew members to fire cannons and purposely miss to slow the ship down.

Unfortunately for a crewmate, she saw the dolphin figurehead of the cruiser liner be shattered with an impact from a cannon ball. "Who did that!?"

Knowing it was a death sentence to lie, the responsible man stepped forward with quivering legs. "I did Lady Alvida, I'm so sorry!"

Without a hint of hesitation, Alvida pulled back her right hand and swung at him before he could even react; stopping just as one of the sharp spikes started to pierce the skin of his head. In a menacing voice, she said "You're lucky that didn't hit the hull otherwise I wouldn't have stopped."

"EEEHHH!" As soon as she took her mace away and turned around, he collapsed and urinated in his pants.

Ignoring the humiliated man, Alvida turned towards the on looking crew members. "We're close boys, throw the hooks up and pull us to the side of the ship."

"Aye-Aye, Captain!" After that terrifying display, none of the crew wanted to get on their captain's bad side.

Yet, before a certain cabin boy could get away, Alvida spotted him. "Coby, you're up first." With a kick she launched Coby over the railing and onto the deck of the Blue Dolphin, following with a jump of her own, an amazing feat for someone of her figure.

"Ouch!" Landing on his face, Coby quickly rolled to the side, with a scream, to avoid the falling bulk of Alvida. However, unlike him, she tore through the deck and landed in the middle of the dining room where all the passengers and Captain were hiding at.

"All you landlubbers hand over all your valuables or face the wrath of me, 'Iron Mace' Alvida!"

"Yes ma'am, we shall comply..." stated the Captain as he stepped forward to greet her "...it will just take a moment to gather them all." Even if it hurt his pride, the Captain knew that compliance meant that there was less of a chance of injuries and deaths than if they fought back.

Alvida scoffed at the man's cowardice. "Don't bother, my men will do it just don't get in the wa-"

She was cut off by a boisterous voice saying, "Hey you fat old hag what are you doing? I got here first so I have first dibs!"

When they heard that, many of the passengers and pirates eyes bulged out of their sockets in shock. Jaws dropped to the floor, and fear spiked through everyone except the boy who yelled and his female companion. Turning to look at the voice, they saw a teen approaching them with a woman trailing behind to the right of him, and two fearful, shaking sailors slowly following them from behind.

Looking at the woman next to the boy, a few whispers of "beautiful" could not be stopped from being uttered. Hearing it, a single vein bulged on her forehead as Alvida yelled first to the boy "Who are you, calling me an old hag..." then to her crew "...and what did you just say?"

"T-t-t-that her beauty could not even compare to yours Lady Alvida!"

"N-n-n-n-nothing Lady Alvida!"

Setting his right hand on his hat, the boy proudly declared "This is Akitsu, my crewmate, and I am Monkey D. Luffy, pirate captain, and I'm going to be the King of the Pirates! Shishishi"

A stunned moment passed in silence before it was broken by a raucous laughter.

Alvida snickered mockingly, "You? King of the Pirates? Ha! You're not even gonna survive insulting me, let alone becoming the King of the Pirates. Boys go kill him!"

With a war cry, fifteen pirates raised their swords, axes, and maces as they charged towards the boy with the intent to kill him. It was better that than to face the wrath of their captain.

Before Luffy could do anything, Akitsu started walking passed him towards the rampaging pirates.

" _She gonna get killed!"_

" _What?!"_

" _Is she stupid?"_

" _Why is he not try to stop her?"_

These alarmed thoughts ran through the minds of those looking at what would become a one-sided slaughter.

Mid-way into her third step, when the pirates were just a few feet from reaching her, she disappeared from in front of the group and appeared behind the pirates with her arms extended to her sides.

The sounds of ripping flesh and clothes along with the thundering of blood splatter echoed throughout the dining hall as parallel slashes appeared on the chests, stomachs, and sides of the Alvida Pirates. Dripping with blood were five long white claws extending out of the sleeves of Akitsu's kimono.

In a cold monotone voice, she scorned the downed pirates, "You shall not touch Ashikabi-sama." Lowering her arms to her side, her white claws retracted into her sleeve disappearing from sight.

Shivers passed through the remaining crew and passengers of the Blue Dolphin at the brutality and ease that the, seemingly, weak woman possessed to defeat men twice her size. Alvida herself unconsciously sweated a little, before rage came over her actions at the defeat of her crew. Though she did vaguely notice that each one still drew breath.

"You!" Charging with a massive leap using her momentum, she swung her mace down upon Akitsu.

With a resounding crack, the custom solid, forged iron mace that Alvida was so proud of shattered against something.

As the shards of what was once her intimidating mace scattered across the hall, they cleared giving her a clear view of what had broken her mace. Eyes widening in disbelief at the sight before all of them, was Luffy with a fist raised above his straw hat covered head, only his large grin was visible under the shadows cast by his hat.

As she realized what just happened sweat started to pour down, what she considered, her beautiful skin. Backing up in fear of the grinning monstrosity before her, she pleaded "Hey no-BLURG!", before she could finish her plea of mercy she received a fist to the gut causing her great pain. She fell down with a boom and lost consciousness.

Awed silence followed what could only be described as a beat down. Slowly someone started clapping, then another, and another. Within a few seconds, everyone was celebrating in relief.

Holding up a hand to quiet the crowd, Luffy asked with a smirk, "What are you celebrating about? I'm a pirate! I just didn't want her taking my spoils. Gather six days worth of food for two people and all will be settled." He inclined his head to his female companion. "Akitsu, go and gather the treasure from the duck ship."

Once Akitsu disappeared, a silence spread to those gathered in the hall. Glancing at the carnage, they quickly went to do what they were told; realizing that though they have to pay, they still got off quite cheap.

Turning to the remaining person in the hall, Luffy faced the fearful looking Coby, who had hid behind the pirates. "What should I do with you?"

Shaking, Coby rose his hands in front of himself in surrender. "Eeek, I'm not with them please don't attack me."

Luffy rose an unimpressed brow. "What do you mean you're not with them? I watched you arrive with them. Though you did stay in the back while your nakama were being slaughtered, so maybe you're just a coward."

An imaginary arrow flew towards Coby piercing his chest upon its shaft was the word coward; causing him to fall on his hands and knees in depression.

Eventually, Coby found a small bit of courage to stand up with a not-so-intimidating glare, looking more like a scared stare, focused on Luffy.

"I'm not a part of her crew. It was a mistake that I ever boarded their ship…" His eyes glazed over in memory. "...Two years ago, I was going down to my village's docks to board a boat to go fish. I accidentally boarded the Alvida Pirates ship by mistake. Ever since then I was forced to be a chore boy and their navigator. I hated it being forced to do something I didn't want to like that. I would wait for the chance to escape from them, but I just couldn't gather the courage to escape."

"So not only are you a coward..." another arrow pierced Coby, "...You're an idiot too." A second arrow this time with idiot written on it stabbed him.

Enraged and humiliated, Coby barked back, "Like you're one to talk! Saying stupid things like 'I'm going to be the King of the Pirates'! Do you even know what that entails? It means that-"

"I need to head to the Grand Line, travel through it, conquer it, and find the One Piece." Luffy cut him off.

"YES, exactly do you know how many pirates die trying to do that?"

"N-"

Not giving him a chance to answer, Coby continued his rant, "Hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands, of pirates have died trying to do just that and you want to do the same?"

In a voice full of confidence and determination Luffy replied, "No, I'm not going to be the same. I'm going to be different! I'm going to travel the whole of the Grand Line. I'm going to conquer it! I'm going to find the One Piece! I AM going to be the Pirate King!"

Taking off his straw hat, Luffy gazed fondly at it. "This hat is the symbol of the pledge that I swore to a dear friend. I would become the Pirate King, and if I die in the process, then I can die with no regrets knowing that I had the determination and the will to put in the effort to obtain my dream. That is what living as a pirate is; living free to make a choice, to follow a dream, and that is exactly what I shall do." He finished by placing his hat back on his head hiding all, but the wide captivating grin in the shadows that it cast.

Coby was struck speechless. He never thought someone would be willing to put their life on the line for a dream. After a moment of awed silence, he spoke in barely a whisper. "Do you think I could do it?"

"Do what?"

"Become a Marine, I've always wanted to be a marine, catching the bad guys, protecting the world. Do you think I could do it?"

Luffy shrugged. "I don't know. The only way to find out is by trying."

A fire of determination sparked to life behind Coby's dark eyes. "I'm going to do it! I'm going to be a marine! No, not just a marine... the Fleet Admiral! I'm going to become the Fleet Admiral and catch all the pirates!"

"Even me?"

Staring into Luffy's mirthful face, he replied with no fear, no hesitation. "Yes I would if you broke the law."

The two just stared at each other for a moment before breaking out into large grins.

"Ah…I'm back."

"Ack!"

Behind Luffy, carrying a large burlap sack over her left shoulder and a small chest under her right arm, Akitsu suddenly appeared frightening Coby.

"Hey, go ahead and put the treasure into the ship." With a blur of motion, Akitsu once again disappeared. Luffy followed after her with Coby trailing behind him.

When they arrived back on the deck, two sailors walked over to them carrying two large barrels. "Here is the food that you requested, sir."

"Thank you. Akitsu catch!" Picking up the barrels, Luffy threw them overboard to the awaiting Akitsu.

All of the sudden cannon balls started to hit the ocean around the three ships. Looking to the west, they saw three marine vessels sailing toward them.

With a laugh, Luffy threw Coby, who was frozen in fear, over his shoulder and jumped down to his boat.

"Ack! What are you doing, Luffy!?"

"Bringing you with me, of course! Let's go!"

* * *

Lieutenant Adams was pushing his three ships as fast as they could to their destination. He was responding to a distress call from the cruise liner, the Blue Dolphin that was under raid from a pirate ship. From the description of the Jolly Roger and the ship it could only be 'Iron Mace' Alvida of the Alvida Pirates, and their ship the 'Beautiful Swan'.

" _How anyone could find that abomination of a ship fearsome at all is a mystery in and of itself. It's more disturbing than frightening. Though, it might be so disturbing that it frightens people. They should put it out of its misery and send it to the watery depths. I probably should go easy on the crew for any male that works on that is probably under constant mental torture or they're insane and can't be held accountable for their actions, or they were driven insane by being on that man card destroying demon."_

As he approached the place where the navigator of the Blue Dolphin told them was their location he noticed that the Beautiful Swan- he couldn't repress the shudder that ran down his spine at the sight- was still tied to the Blue dolphin. _"Maybe I can achieve my goal of sinking it."_

"Fire the cannons as a warning to not escape, prepare the boarding parties, and gather the medical staff for emergency treatment", Adams commanded his troops.

Noticing that there was no returning fire, he smirked. _"Decided that facing the marines was too risky eh? Good, that makes things a lot easier. I don't have to enforce 'absolute justice' which is always a good thing for the civilian casualty count."_

As they drew closer to the 0Blue Dolphin, they noticed that it was quiet. Pulling up to it, they quickly boarded and were surprised to see the pirates laying on the ground with long slashes on their torsos and blood dripping from them soaking their clothes, pooling on the deck.

Spotting a hole in the deck, Adams peered down and was shocked to find more pirates and shards of metal spread around an unconscious clothed whale in what appeared to be the dining hall. At closer examination, he was stunned to discover it wasn't what it first appeared to be. _"Oh wait... that's not a whale, her description just didn't do Alvida's size justice. Heh….justice."_

Glancing around, Adam's saw that his soldiers were petrified in shock at the sight before them. Breaking them of their trance, he began to bark out instructions. "What are you standing around for? Start treating injuries and start shackling the pirates!"

"Aye-aye Lieutenant!"

As his crew ran past him, he approached a nearby sailor. "Who are you and what happened here?"

"My name is Bob. I work here on the Blue Dolphin. Well, this is what happened…" As Lieutenant Adams listened to the report of the events that had transpired, he felt surprised, shock, and worry. "…once you started to fire, he grabbed the boy and fled on his ship."

Frowning, the Lieutenant processed the information. _"These new pirates seem dangerous_ _..._ _I'm gonna have to file a report on him."_ He sighed at the prospect. _"More paperwork…"_

Turning back to the sailor, Adam's asked, "Could you write down his description? Also, please record any strange abilities."

" _Why do I have a bad feeling about them?"_

* * *

Sailing out into the late afternoon sun, a small fishing boat with three people calmly transversed the watery horizon.

Seeing that the danger had passed, Coby deemed it a good time to start asking questions. "So where is the rest of your crew, Luffy?"

Luffy chuckled at the inquisitive boy. "It's just the four of us right now. We're in the recruitment phase. You've been out to sea for a few years, do you know of any strong people I can recruit?"

"The only one that Lady Alvida was wary of, that I know, was the pirate hunter, Zoro."

Luffy's eyes sparkled in interest at the name. "Do you know where he is?"

"Last I heard, he was in Shells…Town….Wait! You're not thinking of recruiting him are you!?" Coby gasped in shock at the idea.

"Only if he is strong. Shishishishi."

"Are you an idiot?! He is a pirate hunter! He'll kill you! Akitsu, please help me talk some sense into him." He turned toward the silent silverette with pleading eyes.

"Ah…is he strong?"

"Not you too! What is wrong with you people!?"

While he was laughing, Luffy swore he heard a faint yell of 'my treasure' in the distance but figured it was just in his imagination.

* * *

Akitsu spent 15 minutes looking around the ship for any signs of treasure. The only things that she found were a few scraps of food, an unconscious man in the hallway, and empty rooms. Even the captain's cabin was bare of anything of value except for the clothes which, while good quality, were way too big and worn to be useable.

When she was about to return and report a mission failure, she caught sight of a small dinghy out on the sea sailing away. Putting together some of the clues she found, she decided to check out the tiny boat to see if there was a thief that got to the ship before she did. Flying across the air to the boat with **kamisori,** she soon arrived at the sight of an orange haired teen girl sailing the ship with quite some skill, a bag, and a chest.

She was in an orange skirt with two golden rings on the side, a white shirt with a large blue stripe across the chest with a few thinner blue stripes around different parts of the shirt, and red leather boots. Noticing a hole in the bag, where the opening was tied, shone gold with the reflective light of the sun, she concluded that this was the treasure that she was told to retrieve. With a few quick adjustments, she grabbed the bag and the chest that was next to it and then sped off back to Luffy.

"I think I am far enough away now that I won't be caught", said the young girl as she glanced back at the two ships in the distance, now just little pinpricks on the horizon. _"Well, I got a good haul from that at least 4,000,000 beri for my…treasure..._ MY TREASURE!"

 **Well, I hoped you like it. Congratulation to anyone who knows where Akitsu is from.**

 **Translations-I am using Google translate so, hopefully, these are correct if they are not please notify me and I'll change them.**

 **Tobu Ken Taiho - Flying fist cannon**

 **Kamisori – Razor**


	2. C2A1 Talks and Shells

**Chapter 2: East Blue Arc 'Talks and Shells'**

 **I realized that I made a mistake last chapter when Luffy said: "It's just the two of us." I meant to put "It's just the four of us." Because I forgot that I was introducing two characters this chapter. I fixed my mistake. I also added some more descriptions.**

 **Published: 11/14/2016**

 **Updated: 3/12/2017**

"Hey, Luffy"

"Yeah?"

"You said there are four people in your cr-" Coby was interrupted by a strange sight; a large shadow was becoming more apparent like a large marine creature was surfacing. As the shadow grew larger and more serpentine, the water started to bulge up. Starting with a gray three-pronged armored dorsal fin, blue scales followed before the head finally surfaced. A three-pronged dark blue head crest with two glowing red eyes, from the sides of the head, were three fringe extensions, behind the fringes was a set of fins that flared for even more intimidation, a pair of whiskers extended from the back of the jaw. A yellowish mouth stuffed full of sharp teeth with four extra long fangs, a yellowish belly, and spots along sides, along the spine, were more of the armored dorsal fins. The body was a little wider that the boat and thrice as long; it was quite frightening.

"EEEYAAAA!" Eyes bulging out of his head, jaw open wide with his tongue waving out; his hands were on his head gripping his hair Coby went past scared and straight into terrified territory. Noticing splashes from behind him, he slowly turned his head with a horrified gaze; saw an even bigger creature of the same type. "…" fear so great that his scream was silent he turn his fear filled eyes to Luffy and Akitsu, _"Hopefully they have a plan."_ Only to see Luffy laying down on Akitsu's lap his signature straw hat over his face while Akitsu was slowly stroking his hair, the perfect picture of relaxation and calm. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?" Sharp teeth erupted from Coby's jaw, hands in front of his face curled into claws "There are two sea kings here and you're just laying there like there isn't something wrong!"

"You asked about my other two crewmates."

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!?"

"Meet Leviathan and Ashley, my other two crewmates."

"…"

"I also have them pull this boat with those iron bars and rope that are piled up on the bow."

"…"

"Ah…he broke."

Lifting his hat to look at Coby from under the brim Luffy grinned "Shishishi, I sure pick up an interesting one."

"…"

"I hope he recovers soon we need him to navigate."

"…"

*sigh* creak, tap, tap, slap, slap, slap; finally getting tired of the silence Luffy got up from his comfortable spot, missing the very slight pout on Akitsu's lips, to slap Coby a couple of times shocking him of his daze.

"I just had the weirdest thing happen to me, I just got news that you had two sea kings as pe-ouch."

Interrupting his sentence with a karate chop to the head Luffy said "They're not pets they are my precious nakama and valuable members of my crew. I will not let you insult them by saying that they are pets. Now, which way is it to Shells Town?"

"We are heading the correct direction now it should only take us 2 days to get there…what are you doing?" Seeing Luffy grab the iron rods tied to the rope he threw one to each of the sea kings, they caught the rods in their mouth then took off swimming jerking the boat and causing Coby to fall onto his butt.

"With them pulling we should get there earlier right?"

" _Might as well as accept this insanity, it'll have less stress on my poor brain."_ "Yes, we should. So which one is which?"

"The one to port is Ashley, the starboard one is Leviathan."

So as to not incur their wrath by calling them the wrong name, Coby took a closer look at differences between the two. Leviathan had bigger head fins, head crest, and whiskers; while Ashley had a bigger body.

"Hey Coby, want to eat?"

"Oh, yes I do thanks."

They began to dig into the meal of apples, beef jerky, wheat bread, and some cheese. Coby watched Luffy eating quite vigorously, gobbling down large mouthfuls at a time a few bits of food escaping here and there sticking to wherever they landed whether it be his shirt, pants, or the ground around him. Akitsu, in great contrast, ate in a slower, more methodical, more graceful pace, tearing off little bite sized pieces before putting it into her mouth then chewing it completely before swallowing as to savor each bite to the fullest. Coby ate in his normal way quickly but quietly so as to not draw attention to himself, a habit he picked up on while on the Beautiful Swan.

A peaceful silence permeated the air as dinner was finished; they just sat there listening to the calming noise of the ocean. Coby noticed that Akitsu cuddled up into the Luffy's side, her shoulder under his armpit, his arm falling down to wrap around her waist, while her head rested against his clavicle, eyes closed. "How long have you two been together?"

"We've known each other for about eight and a half years; it wasn't until 2 months ago that we became a couple."

"How did you meet?"

The peaceful atmosphere suddenly became awkward and tense. Akitsu's eyes opened up and stared at Coby with her usual half lidded eyes but they had a glint of an unreadable emotion in them. Luffy's face was tipped down shadows covering his face, ever present grin fading from his face. The sudden change stunned Coby making him feel awkward for asking. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Silence permeated the air, not the peaceful one from before, but a crushing silence. After a while of watching the sun set. To break the awkward atmosphere Coby broke the silence "I'll take first watch you two can go to bed if you want."

Like a switch was flipped Luffy turned back to his usual joyful self with a giant grin he replied: "Thanks, Coby that would be awesome, wake one of us up after a few hours or if something happens; don't let the sea monsters get ya." Separating from each other and standing up and walking into the cabin and closed the door. _"I wonder what that was about."_

After a few hours, enough time passed that the sun had set, the stars came out to decorate the sky in their splendor, and the crescent moon made half of its arduous journey through the night sky, it was then that Coby decided that it was time to change watches. Opening the door he peeked in and saw that on the bottom of one of the 2 bunk beds both Luffy and Akitsu lay. Under the blankets, Akitsu was cuddled into Luffy's side so closely that it looked as though she was trying to fuse into his body. Calling his name Luffy woke up and looked at Coby. "Time to change?"

"Yep."

"Ok."

As if she wasn't asleep Akitsu without any prodding untangled herself from Luffy and the blanket. Both of them put on their shoes and walked past Coby out into the night. "Have a good night sleep Coby."

"Luffy do you know how to use a compass?"

"Yes."

"Ok then, keep going northwest."

"Gotcha."

* * *

The mid-morning light shined through the window coming down at just the right angle to hit Coby in the face. Scrunching up his face in displeasure, he tried to sleep some more, before realizing it was morning. Adrenaline surged through his veins, fear invaded his mind, horror at the future punishment to be dealt to him popped into his head. _"Oh no! I'm late getting up Lady Alvida is going to kill me!"_ Jumping out of bed Coby quickly put on his shoes and rushed out to beg for forgiveness from Lady Alvida only to stop after opening the door to stare out at the unfamiliar sight before him. Instead of a horrendously decorated ship, he saw a plain small fishing boat, instead of a large crew of men and a large, ugly, and angry Lady Alvida he saw a young beautiful woman and an older teen, sitting on the ship. Then suddenly his mind booted up and accessed his memory banks and yesterday's event played through his mind. Relief of the highest order flooded his body his knees gave out and he fell against the side of the cabin.

"Good morning Coby. You seemed tired so I let you sleep in." Turning to look at Coby Luffy noticed the state he was in. Frowning he asked "What's the matter? It looks like you've seen something frightening."

"For a moment I thought I was back on the Beautiful swan-"

"The what?"

"Lady Alvida's ship-"

"That's a horrible name for a pirate ship, I am truly sorry that you had to experience that traveling monstrosity, no man should ever have to."

"Thank you, the whole crew thought so too. Anyways I thought I was back on the Beautiful swan-"

"Blagh"

"Will you stop interrupting me!?" Shark teeth sprouted from his mouth to show just how angry he was.

"Shishishi, you've recovered."

"I thought I was back on the Beautiful Swan," Sending a glare at Luffy daring him to interrupt again "I was the chore boy there and I had to be up right before dawn to start my chores, and anyone who didn't do what they were expected to do got punished. So when the sunlight came through the window I thought I was late to start.

A look of understanding came across Luffy's face, sending a kind grin at Coby he said "I understand two years of conditioning and habits are hard to break. At least now you're not under the thing anymore you're free to make your own choices, sleep in if you want, get up as early as you like."

"Yeah, thanks to you Luffy. Though I think I am still going to keep my habit of getting up early, it'll be useful when I join the marines." A pause "What's 'the thing'?"

"Alvida, calling her a whale is an insult to whales."

"Pfft hahahahahaha. Yes, I can understand that."

"That's right there's a marine base at Shells Town, if I remember correctly, we can drop you off there."

"Yes, also now that I think of it I think that I overheard Alvida celebrating that Zoro was imprisoned there. I will continue to say that you shouldn't recruit Zoro, not only is he a _pirate hunter_ he's been imprisoned by the marines so he isn't a good man."

"Well I'll be the judge of that; he mustn't be that strong if he got caught by the marines."

"No he's strong, Alvida was scared of hi. Evil just can't stand up to the power of Justice, and so Zoro must've done something bad to get targeted by the marines."

"Oh, you're an idealist. Just remember this Coby the world isn't just black and white, good and evil, light and dark, it is shades of gray with actions that range between the spectrum of good or bad."

"What are you talking about the marines are the peacekeepers of the world, they wouldn't just imprison anyone, there must be a reason."

"Marines and pirates fight correct?"

"Yes."

"Marines are the good guys."

Wondering where Luffy was going with this Coby replied: "Yes, and since marines are fighting pirates they are the bad guys."

"So am I a bad guy, even though I'm a pirate."

"No! You're not a bad guy; you're the exception rather than the rule."

"I see, you're going to need to shed your black and white views of the world if you're gonna become a marine. Just take what I just said into consideration. Anyways you must be hungry grab some grub."

"Ok" _"Luffy has to be crazy, the marines can't be evil, but I did always think pirates are evil and Luffy isn't."_ Shaking his head he thought _"No no no, he must be wrong, the people I've always looked up to can't be bad otherwise why does everyone go to the marines for their problems."_ He just decided that Luffy was wrong and dug into his breakfast.

* * *

As the sun started on its downward trip Luffy spied an island in the distance to the north. "LAND HO!" he shouted with raised hands.

Yelling in her soft monotone voice (it sounded more like someone was talking normally) Akitsu copied. "Ah…Land ho"

"Damn it Luffy did you have to yell at the top of your lungs?"

"Yes I did, I always wanted to say that. Shishishi."

"Of course do you see any towns along the coast?"

"Nope. I see nothing."

"Well, could you tell Levi and Ash to start head that way?"

"Sure. Ash, Levi start heading towards the land!"

* * *

When the sun was low in the sky Luffy and company sailed into Shells Town's harbor. Docking up against the pier they tied their boat and stepped ashore, as soon as Luffy's foot touched the wood planks of the pier two people stepped up to Luffy. The first was a silver-haired man wearing an off-white coat, brown pants and shirt, and a tricorn hat, holding up a book full of names; the second was a small dark-skinned boy with a black scarf around his neck, a black hat with a white rim sat upon his head, off white loose coat and trouser, black shoes, and a white shirt. "Excuse me, sir, the docking fee here is 1,000 beri and I am going to need your name."

Reaching into his pocket Luffy grabbed three paper notes and set it on the pages of the book. "How about 3,000 beri and we forget about the name, also point me to a reliable and honest treasure dealer."

The silver haired man raised both his eyebrows in surprise, while the dark-skinned boy looked up at the man. "Welcome to Shells Town Mr. Smith, and for a good treasure dealer I would head down the main street for three crosses, turn left, go five more crosses turn right, and then it'll be the third shop on the left."

"Thank you."

Watching the harbor keep and his assistant walk away Luffy went back onto the boat and went and grabbed the large sack and the chest of treasure from Alvida's ship and started heading to the direction of the treasure dealer. Luffy in the lead Akitsu walking 3 steps behind and one step to the side, and Coby walking next to Luffy. "So what's a treasure dealer?"

"A treasure dealer is a general term for someone who buys valuables from people; they'll buy anything from anyone no questions asked. They're the favorite place for pirates and bounty hunters to sell their goods that they plundered."

Arriving at the front of the shop they saw the walls were painted yellow while the trim around the doors and windows was painted gray, two jewels were painted on either side of the door one being blue the other was red. The sign hanging from over the large bay window depicted a treasure chest and a stylized B that had a line with curled ends going through it. Coby being the nice boy he was pushed the door open ringing the bell that was in the way of the opening door. Walking through they saw that the store was sparsely stocked, a good quality set of table and chairs in the middle of the room, some books were on the shelves to the left, and some jewelry was being displayed in a glass case at the counter.

Coming out of the back room was a man he was tall, brown hair done up into a weird hairstyle, the shape of a beri sign, he wore a white shirt and black pants. "Hello valued customers; my name is Namikaze Ichigo, what we shall be doing today." Glancing at the chest under my arm, and the sack over my shoulder he smiled. "Ah, I see that you are going to be selling today if you bring your wares over to this counter I'll start appraising them."

Setting the chest and sack onto the counter and opening them, they showed their contents of jeweled necklaces, rings, other jewelry, a few good grade swords, some fine clothes, and a small statue made of bronze.

While Coby went to look at the books on the shelves and Akitsu and Luffy watched taking each piece of jewelry out of the chest he examined each one closely with a jeweler's eye before setting them out on a tray to his left. He then examined the weapons setting them on the counter in order, the clothes he folded up and stacked off to the side, and then he finally examined the statue before setting it down. After he examined each item he wrote notes onto a pad that he had in front of him; then after the statue was examined he wrote down more notes before calculating the price. "Sir, ma'am if you are going to be staying here for a while I can give you a percent of e per-"

Stopping Ichigo with a raised hand Luffy spoke: "We are not going to be in town long, so please tell us what you want for them."

"Alright sir, all the products are in excellent condition so I am willing to part with 2,000,000 beri for all of them."

Ignoring the shocked look and the strangled 'what' that came out of Coby's mouth Luffy countered with "2,750,000 beri"

"2,100,000"

"2,600,000"

"2,250,000"

"2,500,000"

"2,450,000"

"Deal." Shaking hands over the compromise Ichigo went to the back to grab the money.

Rushing over to Luffy Coby asked in a surprised voice. "You just made 245,000 beri that's about a year's salary."

"Oh really?"

"Are you not surprised?"

"Not really."

"…"

Coming out from the back holding a stack of bills Ichigo started to count the money back to Luffy. Ending with a "Thank you for coming."

"You're welcome."

After leaving the store they walked back to the ship Luffy carrying the treasure chest and empty sack under his right arm, Coby to his right and Akitsu in her usual spot of three steps behind and one step to the side. After they turned the corner Akitsu disappeared, unnoticed by Coby.

* * *

Nami was mad, which was an improvement from her previous livid emotion that she first was feeling when she discovered that her treasure just disappeared. She would've gone back but she heard cannon fire in the distance so she assumed that the Marines arrived which meant that any treasure on the ship was in the possession of the marines which is too much trouble. As she went back to the docks to see if there was someone to sell her navigational skills to when she saw something. She saw a familiar chest and sack being carried by a teen that was walking next to a boy with a woman trailing behind. _"That's my treasure. I need that back."_

She trailed them through the city and watched them through the window of the treasure shop as they exchanged the treasure. _"That saves me some trouble, bills are easier to steal than gold."_ As they started away from the treasure shop and headed the way they came, when they turn the corner she thought she saw a blur rush back but put it off as her imagination. Then she felt something that sent chills up her spine. An ice cold blade was placed at her throat and another at her spleen, and a chill in the air. A cold monotone voice spoke up behind her "Why are you trailing us?"

Turning her head slightly so as to get a look at the face while not ticking her off, for the voice was definitely female thank goodness, she saw the woman that was following the treasure thief. Racking her brain for an excuse she decided to go with her original plan. "Well you looked like you were travelers and I was wondering if you needed my services. You see I'm a navigator in need of a job."

The chill suddenly disappeared, the blades retracted from their spots on her body. "Ah…yes"

The woman walked past Nami and then turned around cocking her head to the side "Ah…follow?"

"Oh, yes I'm coming." _"Damn that woman is scary…what have I gotten myself into?"_

* * *

"So what are we doing now Luffy?"

"We are going to go to go back to my ship for a meal and then we shall go to bed for the night."

"Why won't we stay in town?"

"Hotels are an unnecessary cost, why pay for a bed when we have four perfectly good ones?"

"Hotels are nicer and usually come with a free meal, and also we can also bathe"

"Really? I didn't know that. We are still not getting one, it's cheaper to just sleep on the ship and buy food, and also we can go to a public bath which is cheaper."

"But you have a good amount of money why not splurge some?"

"Because I need a bigger ship, you think I'm going to the Grand Line with this thing? No, I would sink as soon as I entered. Plus I am going to need a bigger crew."

"Oh…Where is Akitsu?"

"She went to handle a problem she'll be back soon."

Reaching Luffy's boat they both went on and grabbed some food. After waiting a moment Akitsu returns with a nervous teenage girl trailing behind her. The girl had orange hair and was in an orange skirt with two golden rings on the sides, a white shirt with a large blue stripe across the chest with a few thinner blue stripes around different parts of the shirt, and brown gladiator heeled sandals. As they reached the end of the dock Luffy had to ask "Who's this?"

"Ah…navigator."

"Really what a lucky break, we needed a good navigator. My name is Monkey D. Luffy and that is my companion Akitsu. So who are you, how good of a navigator are you, and how much is your hiring price?"

Puffing out her chest out in pride "My name is Nami, I can say without a doubt I am the best navigator in the East Blue, and my hiring price is 1,000,000 beri up front and a 60% share of the treasure."

"What, that's an outrageous price."

"Shut it little boy, your captain and I are discussing a deal."

"Why yo-ouch. Akitsu, why did you hit me?"

"Ah…Don't interrupt."

"Hmm, how about 300,000 beri up front and a 30% share."

"750,000 up front and 60% share."

Raising an eyebrow Luffy countered "500,000 up front and a 40% share, after we get a haul of 1,500,000 beri you'll get a 30% share."

"I'll accept the 500,000 up front but won't go any lower than a 50% share, sir captain." That last part was said in a voice oozing with sensuality, as she leaned forward she clasped her hand in front of her waist squishing her bust together and up, showing hints of what was hidden through the V of the shirt. Her eyes had a seductive gleam, she licked her lips slowly causing them the glisten in the evening light, and she batted her eyelashes at Luffy "I think that's a fair price isn't it?" To finish him she slowly walked towards Luffy with a sway in her hips, putting her right index finger demurely onto her pouting lower lip.

Needless to say that Coby had long since fallen unconscious from a nose bleed. "Nope, it is not a fair price, Akitsu remove her."

Suddenly the seductive act vanished like it was never there; shock was present in its entirety across her face and in her body language. _"He_ didn't _fall for that?"_ Feeling the cold hand on her right arm she racked her mind for a way out of this. _"I don't know what she would do to me."_ "Wait! I was a little greedy. I'll take your last offer."

"Akitsu, stop. Ok deal."

Letting go of Nami's arm Akitsu walked over to Luffy and sat next wrapping her arms around his left arm pushing it into the valley of her breasts. Seeing no reaction Nami thought _"That explains the lack of reaction."_

"Ah…Thief."

A shiver of fear traveled down her spine at the proclamation.

"What do you mean Akitsu?"

"Ah…sailing away from the boat with treasure."

"You stole the treasure from her?" Getting a nod from the woman next to him he turned to Nami. "Sorry about that, she shouldn't have stolen your treasure but she likes to follow my orders to the letter; I'll add another 70,000 beri as compensation."

Relaxing with a sign she gave a small smile "That sounds good." _"He's certainly nice;_ I _definitely wouldn't have done that. I might get a good haul this time around."_ "Just out of curiosity how much did you get

"2,450,000 beri."

""What? All that treasure was worth at least 4,000,000 beri. Damn it you got ripped off, where did you go?"

"I went to a guy named Namikaze Ichigo."

"Really? Well that's odd Namikaze dealers are usually pretty honest, especially when you are dealing with the family members, they're my favorite place to go."

"Well sorry I didn't know how about I leave the dealing to you."

"Add another 5% and I'll do it."

"I'll just do it then and accept a lower price."

"I hate you so much, I'll do it."

"Shishishi. Do you have a place to stay or do you want to stay here."

"I'd rather sleep here than pay for a hotel or sleep on that pink monstrosity of a dinghy."

"I understand Alvida had horrible taste. Why don't you sell it?"

"Now that I have a real boat, I am."

"Well, we got some food here take what you want while I wake up Coby."

After the meal, everyone settled down into the beds. Luffy and Akitsu settled in their usual arrangement of Akitsu smooshing her body into Luffy's as much as she could on one of the bottom bunks, Coby taking the other bottom bunk, and Nami taking the bunk above Coby.

 **Well, that's the second chapter, I hope you all like it. I am looking for a beta reader, could someone contact me and instruct how to set that up. While listening to my Google translate read my story to me works on a grammatical side it doesn't really give me any ideas to improve my story.**

 **Not much happened in this chapter action wise, we got some character development and some hints at the past. I also left a cameo and congrats on who recognizes what Leviathan and Ashley are.**


	3. C3A1 The Falling Axe

**Chapter 3 East Blue Arc 'The Falling Ax'**

 **Hey guys I'm back I will just have to say that this chapter is a doozy, I took me so long to do this because of construction projects and the holidays, Also I now have a beta reader Slip Slowly Into Madness he has beta read the first chapter which I have updated, and soon he'll be done with chapter 2 and I'll upload it then.**

 **A warning the first flashback in this chapter will have descriptions of violence and blood in it so skip it if you don't want it.**

 **Published: 1/2/2017**

 **Updated: 3/12/2017**

 **Beta: Slip Slowly Into Madness**

As the sun rose, Luffy gazed out onto Shells Town. The white washed buildings with roofs of different colors, the hustle and bustle of the morning rush of people getting started with their day. It all painted a peaceful picture to visitors. Most likely due to the massive, imposing building on the top of the hill, visible from all around. It was shaped like a flat-topped cone, painted light blue with dark blue oval spots, and with the marine symbol, an abstract seagull, painted on in even darker blue.

Hearing the door open, he looked down from the roof of the cabin to see that Nami and Coby were coming out.

"Are you guys finally ready to start the day?" Luffy greeted the pair.

Coby smiled at the older boy. "Yep."

"Yes, I am Luffy. What's the plan for today?" Nami asked as she folded her arms under her chest before continuing on to say, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to sell my dinghy before anything else."

The young captain nodded in agreement."We'll sell your dinghy first and then we're going to grab some grub before we head to the marine base."

She rose a brow in surprise. "Why are we going to the marine base?"

"We are going to drop off shorty-"

"Hey!" Coby interjected offended by the nickname.

"-and to see if they actually imprisoned Zoro." Luffy continued, ignoring the irate boy.

Nami frowned at his words. "Why?"

"I want to recruit him for my crew."

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Coby said, "I keep telling you that's a-Ouch! Why do you keep on hitting me?"

With no hint of remorse in his tone, Luffy replied, "Because you keep on saying things I don't care about."

Pouting, the young marine-hopeful rubbed his head and griped, "Fine, get yourself killed you meany."

"Whatever. Hey, Nami, lead the way."

* * *

"….How?" Coby protested as they walked down the busy market street.

Amused, Nami smirked knowingly at the boy. "How what?"

"How did you get you get 75,000 beri for that ugly as sin boat? At most, I thought you would've gotten 30,000 beri."

"You want to know?"

Nodding eagerly, he responded, "Yes, of course."

Leaning down to Coby's ear, Nami whispered. "That's a secret."

Coby ground his teeth in irritation at being kept in the dark.

Luffy and Nami laughed at the pink haired boy in amusement as they continued down the market streets.

Walking away from the boat dealer, 75,000 beri richer, was Luffy in the lead with Akitsu behind him in her usual spot. Coby was to his right and Nami on the other side of Coby. Heading down the street, they walked until a pleasant smell tickled their senses. Turning to the right, they entered the restaurant from which the delicious scent originated from.

The restaurant looked nothing special with its plain wooden floors, tables, chairs, and bar. The tables had people laughing over food that smelled and looked delicious. Waitresses wandering to and fro to please their customers.

Approaching one of the tables, they sat down and waited for a waitress to come over. After a minute of waiting, a pretty girl in her late teens walked up to the quartet. "Hi, my name is Sakura. I'll be your waitress today. Here are the menu's and what shall I start you out with." After a quick look over the menu, everyone placed their orders.

While eating their meals, Luffy asked a passing Sakura. "Hey, I heard rumors that the Pirate Hunter Zoro was around here. Is that true?"

As soon as the word Zoro passed his lips the surrounding conversations quieted. Sakura slightly stiffened, and people glanced at them wearily. "Y-yes he is, he's currently at the marine base."

Coby sat up with a look of triumph as he said smugly, "See! I told you, Luffy, he's a bad guy. I heard this base is run by Captain Morgan. I hope he serves justice."

The reaction of the name Morgan was even more unsettling than the reaction to Zoro. All the conversations immediately stopped. Everyone turned to Coby as palpable fear became present in the air, and Sakura tensed completely before glaring at the pink haired boy. She walked away with a humph, before returning shortly after with a receipt. "Well, here is your bill please pay and leave."

Confused, Coby stammered, "W-w-what did I say?"

A grim looked settled over Luffy's features as he said solemnly, "Black and white Coby... black and white."

"What?" An even more baffled expression crossed Coby's young, naive face.

After dropping down enough beri for the bill plus a hefty tip, Luffy and company exited the restaurant without another word.

A silence fell between the four as they made their way to the Marine base when suddenly Nami asked a question that had been bothering her since the restaurant. "Hey, Luffy, why are you wanting to recruit Zoro? If he's in marine custody, taking him away will make you a criminal."

Luffy shrugged. "That doesn't bother me."

"Yeah, he's a-hmhmhmhm."

"We are in a MARINE town please think before you talk." Luffy scolded the young boy before releasing Coby's mouth and continued the walk to the naval base.

Although it hadn't been said, Nami knew at once what the young boy was going to say. _"He's a pirate! That bastard he tricked me! Now that I think of it, I didn't ask. Damn! I'm slacking! Well at least, I won't feel guilty when I steal everything that he owns."_

Arriving at the large metal doors of the marine base, the group stared at them for a moment before Luffy patted Coby on the back and with a smile said, "Go ahead the path to your dream starts here."

After regaining his balance from stumbling by the force of the pat, Coby looked at the largest building with joyful tears in his eyes. "I'm here after all the trials I went through... I am finally here. All thanks to you Luffy! You saved me and gave me the courage to do this. I guess this is where we part wa-" Glancing to where Luffy was standing, all he saw was a blank space and Nami pointing over her shoulder at Luffy and Akitsu looking over the wall.

Staring at the empty place for a second longer, one could almost see three lines flashing in and out with a funny sound. "What the hell Luffy!? I was in the middle of saying my thanks and you just disappear! What kind of friend are you!?" Shark like teeth made their appearance in Coby's mouth as he roared in anger. "And what are you doing?!"

Looking back over his shoulder at Coby, with an amused grin, Luffy replied, "Are you stupid? I'm looking for Zoro, of course!"

Appalled, Coby protested. "Why would they keep a dangerous criminal out in the open like that?"

"Ah…Someone is there." Akitsu pointed out before the boy could continue on complaining.

Stunned into silence, Coby sighed in defeat before climbing up the wall along with Nami, whose curiosity was piqued as well. They looked over the stone wall to see a grassless courtyard and in the middle of the barren ground was a man wearing black boots, pants of a green so dark that they almost seemed black, a green striped haramaki with white short-sleeved shirt, and a bandana to match his pants that casted an intimidating shadow over his eyes. Dust slowly drifted by his feet kicked up by the light morning breeze. The only thing that would've made this scene more epic was if the man were standing up instead of being tied to a log cross.

"T-that's him, Pirate Hunter Zoro-ouch!"

After lightly chopping Coby's head, Luffy griped, "Stop screaming all the time! You'll attract unwanted attention." Taking a quick glance at the tied up hunter, Luffy mused aloud, "Hmm, those ropes don't look too hard to break, it'll be easy to free him."

"Why would yo-ow!" Shark teeth and angry words were once again interrupted by a firm chop to the head almost making Coby lose his grip on the stones. Suddenly their antics were interrupted by a voice raspy from disuse and a lack of water; concealing well the tone of weariness, and masked full of irritation.

"Hey, you guys. You're an eyesore, get lost."

About to respond to the glaring man, Luffy was interrupted by a sudden ladder being placed on the wall between Nami and Akitsu, who had been quietly observing everything.

A cute girl with brown hair done up in twin pigtails with a white hood extending out of the light blue and cyan dress she was wearing with a pair of red shoes encasing her feet. She was holding something wrapped in a light orange napkin close to her chest.

Glaring at Coby and putting her finger to her mouth in a shushing motion, she lowered a rope and climbed down over the stone wall. She ran over to Zoro with a look of determination and pride on her face.

Alarmed at the actions of the girl, Coby turned to the silent man at his side. "Luffy, you need to stop her! She'll get killed!" No one move at his words as he turned back to the situation with a look of worry just in time to hear the little girl's words.

"You must be hungry. I made you some rice balls to eat." She presented the packaged she had clutched earlier.

Even from his position by the wall, Zoro's worried expression that had been quickly masked with feigned annoyance hadn't escaped Luffy's notice. "Oi! Pipsqueak you want to be killed? Scram!"

Undeterred, the little brunette pressed on. "You haven't eaten in awhile, so I made these for you. It was my first time, so I worked hard." Unwrapping her package and holding it up to Zoro with a look of such pride, joy, and absolute cuteness that even someone as hardened Zoro couldn't even help but to pause and accept the gift she lovingly prepared-

"I ain't hungry." -or not. "Get out of here before I kick you."

Tears began to bud in the corners of her eyes as she tried to protest, "But…"

"Just do it. Leave!" A slight amount of worry and panic leaked into his voice as he glanced to his right. It was too late.

"Now, don't be such a bully, Zoro."

Entering through the iron gate to the right of Zoro came in a teenage boy with a prominent cleft chin. His golden hair was done up in such a manner that it reminded people of a mushroom. He wore a royal purple suit with a hot pink shirt underneath, the collar was quite large, and a double row of golden buttons sat on the coat. His polish white shoes shined in the sunlight. He also wore golden rings and a gold bead necklace.

Following behind the odd looking man were two marines in the normal uniform of a white cap with the title 'Marine' emblazoned on it, a white button up shirt, a blue scarf tied around their necks, blue pants, gray socks, and black shoes.

"Ah…weird."

Luffy nodded his head in agreement with Akitsu. "A weird one came."

"Oh god, those clothes look horrible." Nami scoffed as she shook her head in disgust.

"Oh thank god! The marines are here. She's safe now." Coby didn't notice the incredulous looks thrown his way at his comment.

Oblivious to the insults, the blonde man continued to say with a self-righteous sneer. "You seem to be doing surprisingly well."

Stopping next to Zoro with the marines at rest behind him, he then looked at the rice balls that the girl was holding. He suddenly grabbed one away from her. "These look good. Thank you, little girl."

The tears that she had bravely tried to hold back were beginning to break loose. "Hey! Those aren't for you! Give it back!"

Taking a big bite out of the rice ball and chewing some, he spat it out with a look of sheer disgust on his face. Throwing the rest on the ground before he started yelling at the girl. "Balgh, that's disgusting! It's too sweet!"

Stepping back from the outburst, she tried to defend herself against the blonde's rudeness. "I thought it would taste better if it was sweet."

"Are you stupid? You're supposed to use salt, not sugar!" Slapping the remaining rice ball out of her hand and onto the ground, he cruelly stomped them into a muddy mess.

"No! Stop! Please!" She fell onto her knees reaching out with her hands, but too scared to try and grab her rice balls that she worked so hard to make in fear of her fingers being squished.

The hidden onlookers frowned at the sight, but it was Coby who looked the most distraught. "H-how horrible."

"I w-worked so hard on those." No longer able to hold back the tears in her eyes, she cried as she watched, what took her all morning to make, be crushed and ground into the dirt in front of her eyes.

Once satisfied with his handy work, the blond stopped his onslaught and revealed what once was sweet rice balls were now brown mush from all the dirt. He felt no remorse for his actions when he saw the tears streaking down the girl's cheeks.

Pulling a sheet of paper out from within his shirt, he read off of it. "'Those who help any prisoner in any way, shape, or form are to be charged with treason. The punishment for treason is that the traitor and their immediate family to be executed post haste. Signed, Captain Morgan.'" At the name Captain Morgan, the tears stopped, her body stiffened, and a look of absolute fear was plastered on her face.

He grinned maliciously. "Hehehe, it looks like even a little girl knows to fear my father."

If any of the others were surprised by the revelation none of them showed it. Coby, on the other hand, could not stop his gasp of shock. "His dad? His dad is Captain Morgan of the Marines?"

Looking over his shoulder at the marine on his left, the blonde ordered, "Oi you! Throw this girl over the wall."

"Huh?" A look of reluctance flashed across the marines face.

Turning around the son of the captain grabbed the marine by his collar and pulled his face close. "I SAID throw the girl over the wall. Don't make me tell daddy!"

"Y-y-yes sir, Helmeppo." The marine saluted.

The now named Helmeppo released the man with a smug smirk. The marine walked over and grabbed the girl while she struggled with all her might unable to break free from his grip.

Whispering to the girl, "Curl up into a ball little miss", he walked up to the wall. Momentarily surprised to see people, he asked softly so as to not be overheard, "Please catch her." After getting a nod from the straw-hat wearing boy with a toss and a scream he threw her over the wall and turned back with his face blank of any emotion.

She shut her eyes and curled into a ball under the advice of the marine, she scrunched her eyes up in preparation of pain only to feel something soft and comfortably chilly. Opening her eyes in surprise, she looked up into a pair of half lidded blue eyes and a head of silver hair. She felt relief flood her veins. Grabbing onto the kimono, she silently cried onto the woman's bosom. "T-thank you."

Slowly patting the little girls head Akitsu replied, "Ah…It's ok."

Coby quickly scrambled down from the wall to check up on the girl. "That was horrible, are you alright?" The little brunette nodded as she tried to wipe away the tears. Seeing that the child was going to be okay, Luffy and Nami turned their attention back to the courtyard.

Helmeppo laughed mockingly at the tied up swordsman. "Hehehehehehe, you sure are stubborn to not die huh?"

Zoro smirked full of self-confidence. "Yeah, I am gonna survive the month just as we promised."

"Yeah... Good luck with that, hehehehehe." Helmeppo backed away and turned to leave with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Irked at the blond's actions, Zoro shouted back, "Remember, I only have ten days left!"

From their position, neither Zoro or the silent audience could see the sly smirk on Helmeppo's face as he retorted. "Assuming you can live that long."

As Helmeppo's annoying laugh faded off into the distance, Zoro sighed in relief. Only to hitch in surprise as a boy in a straw hat, red shirt, blue jeans, and brown boots appeared in front of him. Putting it off as hunger affecting his awareness he asked tiredly, "What do you want?"

Taking a good look at the tied up man, Luffy noticed the clothes were slightly baggy, the bruises that littered the body were gruesome and some began to discolored showing their age and others a deep purple indicating that they were fresh. Along with the black eye hidden by the shadows of his bandana and the slight hollowness of his cheeks and the fatigue that was showing through his eyes, it summed his treatment at the hands of Helmeppo and marines pretty well.

"Man, a whole month without food? That's tough." Luffy stated as he scratched his cheeks thoughtfully.

Zoro scoffed at the younger boy. "That's because you don't have enough spirit. I will live through this, I swear it."

"I didn't say you couldn't do it. I just said it was tough. You look like shit."

Rolling his eyes, Zoro was too tired to properly argue besides it was true. "Thanks, asshole. Hey, before you leave could you do me a favor and pick those up for me?" He gestured with his eyes to the pile of dirty rice mush by his feet.

Bending down to the former rice balls, Luffy picked them up skeptically and slightly grossed out. "You're gonna eat these? They're mostly dirt by now…eew this one is wet with spit."

"Shut up and feed me them," Zoro demanded with annoyance.

Luffy raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yes, now do it."

"Ok, it's your death wish."

After Luffy put the dirty rice into Zoro's awaiting mouth he chewed, grimaced, and swallowed with plenty of coughing, hacking, wheezing.

Luffy chuckled amused by the man's strange actions. "I told you."

"Shut up! Now the other one."

"Really? This one has spit on it."

A glare showed Zoro's determination, shrugging he put the last of the rice into Zoro's mouth and the whole thing was repeated again. Once he was finished, Zoro spot the brave child that had tried to gift them the rice balls to him.

Looking at the top of the wall at the little girl that was sitting there wide eyed. He yelled as loud as he could. "It was delicious."

A smile as bright as the sun spread across the girl's face full of joy and happiness, the surrounding people couldn't help but smile and the second biggest smile was Luffy's. He had found another crewmate.

* * *

Unknown to the people in the courtyard grounds, they were being observed by Captain Morgan himself. Turning to the lieutenant next to him, he said, "The girl has defied my order; that is disrespectful to me. Take a squad, find her and her family and bring them to me for proper interrogations. You have three hours."

"…"

"Do NOT make me repeat myself, lieutenant."

"Sir, yes sir." The lieutenant barely hid the reluctance and disgust in his voice, but that mattered not to the captain.

" _As long as they follow orders, for I am great."_

* * *

Walking back into town the group of four was following the little girl, who had introduced herself as Rika, lead them to her home as they escorted her there. Until Coby spoke up, "If only Captain Morgan knew his son was abusing his name, I-"

Rika suddenly stopped and spun around with a glare on her face full of hate, anger, malice, and hurt. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT MONSTER'S NAME LIKE THAT!"

Recoiling back, Coby was stunned. Luffy glanced around seeing people stop what they were doing glaring briefly their direction before continuing on. Before she could continue, Luffy grabbed her and motioned for everyone to follow. Entering an alley, he set Rika on a barrel. "Here, that way no unwanted ears can hear you."

Glaring at Coby, Rika continued. "That foul, loathsome monster should just die. He has done nothing but harm and terrorizes everyone here." Tearing up her voice started to choke up, "H-he even killed m-m-my b-best friend."

* * *

 _People were murmuring as they gathered into the town square. As they entered gasps of horror spread throughout the populous as three bound and gagged people were dragged onto the platform that was erected in the square. Tied to three posts were a man in a marine uniform, a woman that was his wife, and a young girl._

 _*Gasp* "Marry?" Confused purple eyes gazed onto the platform._

 _Standing to the left of the three people was a giant of a man standing at rest. He was a head and shoulder above the surrounding men around him with suntanned skin, muscles visible on his bare arms and through his clothes. Short light blonde hair, a metal jaw covered his mouth with four large teeth with the marine emblem on the chin of it, wearing a sleeveless light blue trench coat with a maroon lining, gold epaulets, dark blue vest, a light and dark blue zebra striped pants, and black combat boots. Peeking out from behind his back was an absolutely massive ax blade. Raising his left hand, he pointed towards the three that were tied up._

" _This family has been charged with treason. The man has defied my orders multiple times. From now on, the punishment for treason shall also be passed onto the family of the traitor. For if a person performs treason, why wouldn't his family? The punishment for treason is execution."_

 _Turning to the bound people he raised his right hand, which turned out to be an ax and swung at the man. The head of the man along with the top of the post flew off with a slew of blood out of the neck, splattering on the wood of the execution platform._

 _Terrified Gasps escaped from the crowd, cries of horror and sadness were muffled by hands or, in the case of the people of the platform, cloth gags. Another swing another head flew along with the top of the post, and more blood splattered._

 _As the monster walked up to Marry, the little girl was struggling with all her might, tear tracks visible on her cheeks looking with absolute fear at the ax covered with the blood of her parents. Before a hand covered Rika's eyes, she was picked up and started to be moved away from the platform. Struggling from her mom's arms, she finally got the hand to slip just enough to see Marry's head fly from her neck, blood flying through the air before her mom turn the corner and she saw no more._

" _MARRY! LET ME GO! I NEED TO GET TO MARRY! NOOOOOOO!"_

* * *

Tears flowed from her eyes at the memory, Rika tried to scrub them dry with her dress before a pair of warm arms picked her up and cradled her to a warm chest. Wrapping her little arms around the warmth, calming words of comfort were whispered into ears as the woman rocked her back and forth while rubbing circles on her back. Her sobs could not be stopped.

Slowly over a few minutes, they lessened until she raised her head to see a kindly smiling Nami looking down at her before the moment was interrupted by Luffy.

Walking over to Rika and looking her eye to eye. "I swear to you this, Rika. Today will be the last day of Morgan's corrupt regime. Today he shall fall bloody and broken for the pain he has caused!"

A look of wonder came across her face as she said in a small voice "Really? You're serious."

"Yes, I am serious."

The biggest smile he has seen from her yet bloomed on her red cheeks. However, her face changed before she said words that no child should ever say, "Make him suffer."

"Definitely." Rubbing her head getting a giggle and another smile from her, Luffy stood with his dark eyes blazing with determination. "But first, do you mind explaining what Zoro did to get into trouble with the marines?"

Rika nodded as she began to explain, "Well it was three weeks ago…"

* * *

 _Rika was sweeping up the floors at her family's diner when she suddenly heard a lot of screaming, yelling, and a bestial growl coming from outside. Running up to the decorative bay window, she saw that a pair of wolves were running to and fro biting and clawing at people around it._ "Why is no one handling them? They will hurt someone." _She thought._ _It wasn't long before the answer was given by a voice yelling out._

" _Make way for my Lord Percy and Lady Gina, don't get in their way or you'll be executed." A man in a ghastly purple suit was walking down the street, a saber over his right shoulder, followed by a pair of marines that looked like they really didn't want to be there._

 _Suddenly both wolves stopped in the middle of the street sniffing around, a chill went up Rika's spine as she quickly made her way to close the door. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough and as the door was closing the wolves burst into the restaurant shoving Rika to the floor with the force of the partially open door opening all the way._

 _Jumping up onto tables, the wolves grabbed_ _everything they wanted and the people scrambled to get_ _out of the way. Rika picked herself up and started to swing her broom trying to scare off the beasts._

 _Her mother's normally tan face turned pale white as she saw her little girl fight off the fearsome beasts._ _"Rika don't get back here." Trying to get around the long counter to reach her daughter_ _to protect her, the mother raced to her side,_ _but she didn't make it in time._

 _The wolves turned their crazed eyes towards the little girl both lunging at her. Their jaws full of sharp teeth open wide to bite down. Before that fate could come true a man charged forward from his spot on the counter slamming his sheathed sword onto the back of the wolves heads. Both fell to the ground, heads sitting at odd angles, necks broken. A stunned silence settled throughout the diner before Rika's mom continued to her and picked up Rika carrying her away from the soon to come confrontation._

 _Helmeppo stood in the doorway looking forward to seeing his precious pets playing around seeing that they found a new toy he was pleased, but that was before that man dared to ruin his fun by killing them. Raising his sword he charged with a yell before his sword was knocked out of his hands sticking into the ceiling then he received a punch to the face sending him crashing into the counter._

 _Rubbing his face and looking up to glare at his attacker, his mouth opening to yell commands at his loyal subordinates, only to find a sword blade pointed at his right eye. A mouse-like squeak escaped his lips as he noticed two more swords strapped onto the man's waist. Realizing who he was dealing with, he felt a shiver of fear run down his spine._

 _Suddenly Zoro turned and sheathed his blade setting enough beri on the counter to pay for his meal along with extra to repair the ceiling. He started to leave but halted in his steps when he heard the blonde man speak. "You know that those two over there are going to be executed when daddy finds out about this."_

 _Zoro glanced at the terrified faces of the mother and daughter as they clutch onto each other. "Being the gracious man I am, I would let their mention in my story fall away if you turn yourself in. If you last a month I'll even let you go."_

 _Slowly turning to look at Helmeppo. Zoro only had one choice. "Deal."_

-scene

"So he isn't a bad guy, good…maybe when he gets out I'll ask him to join." Luffy mused aloud before pausing for the expected interruption from Coby. He turned to him only to see him shaking deep in thought. _"I guess this is actually getting through to him."_

With a sigh, Luffy started to leave the alley. "Well, let's get you home before your mother gets worried and then I'll go and fulfill my promise."

Rika shimmied out of Nami's hold and she quickly followed after him. "Make sure you save big brother Zoro!"

"Sure thing." Luffy's wide, infectious grin set her at ease. He would keep his promise.

Turning back onto the main road continuing to Rika's home, they suddenly heard a familiar annoying voice.

"Hehehehehehe... Make sure you are all at the execution platform tomorrow. For tomorrow is a joyous day! It is the day that Roronoa Zoro gets executed!"

"No", the horrified whisper escaped Rika's mouth, her hands gripping tightly to the ends of her dress before she remembered the promise big brother Luffy said to her then her fright turned to anger at the betrayal. Helmeppo was never going to keep his word.

Luffy shared her thoughts as he barked out heatedly, "Hey! I thought he still had ten days then you'd release him."

Halted in his steps, Helmeppo looked towards down the road at the voice seeing a man in a straw hat. "I don't know where you found out about that, but I lied. I never was going to release him; that was to get him weakened enough so I could execute him myse-" A punch to face courtesy of Luffy sent Helmeppo flying across the street into the side of the building before he could continue.

Letting Helmeppo's unconscious body fall to the ground and ignoring the wide horrified gazes of the surrounding people, Luffy turned to his group and commanded, "Let's return Rika quickly then we are going to defeat Morgan and recruit Zoro."

Quickly getting directions from Rika, they arrived at her house in moments to meet an older version of Rika worriedly pacing the front of the restaurant. Spotting Rika, she rushed and tackled her into a hug sending her stumbling.

At the sight of the mother fussing over the kid, Nami couldn't help but overlay the image of a woman in a marine uniform with a Mohawk fussing over a small orange haired girl. Shaking her head free of those images, she noticed that her captain and his followers had started to power walk towards the Marine base. She ran to catch up to them.

Arriving at the front of the marine base once again, Luffy approached the wall and in an astounding show of strength, jumped over the wall in a single leap, startling the lone man in the courtyard.

"What are you doing here? I told you to scram." Zoro rasped at the approaching Luffy.

Not pausing his strides, Luffy pressed onwards towards the bound man. "I was just curious as to if you had a dream? With all the determination I see from you, I can only expect it to be a big one."

Looking up in surprise, Zoro couldn't help but contemplate whether or not to tell the younger man, reaching a decision he replied. "My dream is to be the greatest swordsman in the world. I will not die before then. This is just another challenge that was placed in front of me that I will overcome and be stronger for it."

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi, that's a good resolve. My dream is to be the King of the Pirates, I'm currently looking for crewmates an-"

Zoro snorted and turned his head away. "Why should I become a criminal? All that would do would set the marines on me and get in the way of my search."

"That would be true if it wasn't for the fact that the blonde mushroom set your execution date for tomorrow."

His arrogance quickly doused, Zoro whipped his head back to the grim-faced boy. "W-what? Helmeppo said that?"

Luffy nodded solemnly. "I heard it directly. He gave you the challenge so he could execute you himself without fear of reprisal."

Zoro's rage was apparent. His muscles tensed, his teeth grinding together, and his eyes glared up at nothing. "Curse that honorless bastard of a man."

Coby, who just was able to walk up to the cross with the others, happened to be in the direction of Zoro's glare and couldn't help but be intimidated, falling onto his rear he yelled out. "Hieeeeee."

Ignoring Coby's wimpy moment, Luffy continued to say, "You said you were a swordsman? I'm willing to get your sword back if you join me."

Seeing no better options, Zoro sighed, "…Sure I'm going to be a criminal anyways so why not. Since you're so determined, I use three swords, not just one. Helmeppo has them."

Luffy's eyes gleamed in awe. "…I knew you were a badass."

Smirking, Zoro preened at the praise. "Thanks, captain."

Pleased with the title, Luffy turned his attention to the others. "Akitsu stay here with Coby. Free Zoro and protect him."

"Ah…ok"

"Gotcha."

His dark eyes glanced at the orange head before making his way towards the base. He ordered over his shoulder, "Nami, you're with me. We have a set of swords to find."

"Ok." There was no way she was going to disagree with the man, especially when it suited her purposes.

As Luffy and Nami ran to the building, Coby started to untie the ropes holding Zoro to the cross.

Displeased with his slow progress, Akitsu decided to do it herself. "Ah…move"

"What? I'm trying to untie these knots. Whoever did these is an idiot! They're a mess it's gonna take me a while to untie them."

"Ah…move."

"What are you gon-aaaack." The shock was from claws growing out from under Akitsu's sleeves.

Approaching Zoro, she struck out slicing through the ropes with ease causing Zoro to stumble forward before Coby caught him and helped him stand up on his unused legs before he got his strength back.

Rubbing his arms and legs while stretching his stiff muscles Zoro asked, "What now?"

"Ah…wait."

* * *

Lieutenant Nagato hated his job. He despised his commanding officer; every time he had to come close to that monster in human skin he felt as if he had to take three scalding showers just to feel clean again. He despised what he was ordered to do; he hated everything about it, like his current mission he was tasked with.

Find a little girl and her family and bring them in for judgment, which basically meant sitting in a cell for a few days before being dragged out to the execution platform to die from beheading. Ever since Morgan took over this town, it has been hell.

"Lieutenant." Broken out of his thoughts, he turned to the man who addressed him.

"Yes, petty officer?"

The Lieutenant could see the reluctance in the younger man as he answered. "We've found the girl and her mother."

' _Damn it.'_ Knowing he had no other choice, he begrudgingly asked, "Any other relatives?"

"No, just the girl and a single mother."

He sighed tiredly and turned away before giving the condemning order. "Grab them and let's get going."

Marines went into the house and not too long after, two screams of terror were heard by those in the area, followed by people watching fearfully from the windows as the mother and daughter were dragged from the house and down the street.

Aware of the fate that awaited them, Nagato could not but want to set them free and get them away from this hellhole. Immediately after thinking that, images of his little twins girls, his son, and his wife passed through his mind. Hardening his heart he thought _"No matter what I have to do! I will protect you all, even if I have to work with the devil himself."_

Lieutenant Nagato truly hated his job.

* * *

Luffy, as he was running towards the building heard a commotion on the roof. Deciding that was the best course of action, he quickly explained his plan to Nami. "Hey Nami, I'm going to provide a distraction, you sneak into the base and search for Zoro's swords."

"Ok." Wrapping an arm around Nami's waist -"W-what are you doing!?"- he launched himself up into the air and used **geppo** to run up to the top of the building ignoring Nami gripping him tightly and screaming as he headed to the top.

* * *

Upon the top of the building was Captain Morgan standing in front of a large cloth covered object ten times the height of Morgan. With him, surrounding the cloth covered object, were thirty marines standing at attention.

Speaking up so all may hear him, Captain Morgan stated, "Two things matter in this world, strength and titles. It was with my strength that I rose to the rank of captain. Meaning I, the strongest and highest ranking officer here, am the superior person! So everything I do is right. Isn't that right men?"

Saluting Captain Morgan, the marines said in unison. "Sir, yes sir! You are absolutely correct."

The steel-jawed man continued on, "To disobey my orders is to disrespect me and those who do that need punishment. Today a little rat snuck into the execution grounds to help a criminal, and I have already sent people to arrest them for judgment..."

All the men there looked down in silence in mourning of those that will die. "...But today I have good news." The men perked up in confusion. "Today, after many years of work, the symbol of my authority has been completed. Now to unveil it to the world so they can bask in its glory, remove the cover!"

Five marines walked forward and grabbed the sheet and pulled with all their might uncovering the object underneath. A giant statue of Captain Morgan arms out wide as if it was going to embrace something large was revealed. To captain Morgan, it was the most beautiful thing he's seen; to the marines, it looked both narcissistic and stupid, but they didn't voice their thoughts aloud. That was just asking for death.

"Man, that looks stupid."

Jolts of surprise and shock went through the spines of the people on the roof. Turning to the voice, they saw a young man wearing a straw hat. "I mean not only is the pose looks like you're trying to hug someone, but the fact you made it out of stone is just cheap. A proper statue would be made out of bronze, marble, or gold." The newcomer continued to say, oblivious to the disbelieving looks sent his way.

Jaws gaped at the words that were spoken. They just couldn't believe that he spoke out against Captain Morgan. Suddenly the boy disappeared from his spot and another shock ran through them as their heads turned one way and another to find him so he didn't continue to piss off the captain anymore.

Hearing a crack and dreadful rumble, they turned to the sound seeing the boy's fist impact the statue's stomach. A crater about a foot and a half was left where he punched and cracks spread out from the focal point creating an ominous creaking sound.

Suddenly, the statue broke in half collapsing and falling apart as it tumbled down. Out of the way of the debris, the marines couldn't help but look in shock at the destruction, eyes bulging out of their sockets and jaws hitting the floor. Their fear of the captain's reprisal skyrocketed.

Luffy stood proudly, not at all affected by the rising killing intent. "There, now that's out of the way you can start again. This time make a proper statue!"

Looking at the captain, the marines saw rage at a level they've never seen before flowing through him. His muscles were bulging beneath his skin. His one fist clenched so tightly the knuckles turned white. His metal jaw bit down on something that caused a trail of blood to leak out of his mouth.

His eyes... oh the eyes... were filled with a demonic malice that sent each and everyone scrambling away from them lining the barrier around the roof in fear as the two faced off. With a mighty roar, Captain Morgan charged at the boy. The terrified marines silently prayed that his death would be quick and his soul would find peace.

* * *

After calming down from being lifted high in the air by Luffy, Nami pushed her fear into the back of her head to clear her thoughts. _"I am going to smack him, so hard."_ After thinking about it. _"After we aren't_ _..._ _"_ glancing down, _"_ _..._ _fifty feet in the air."_ Gulping at the sight she tightened her hold onto Luffy as she waited for the ride to stop.

Suddenly, she felt she was going super fast and she started to stumble weakly on her feet since her handhold disappeared. Leaning up against the wall, her dizziness passed quickly. Glancing at Luffy she saw him wink and then start insulting the giant narcissist.

Blinking momentarily in confusion, she quickly caught onto what was going on and snuck to the doorway that leads to a staircase and high-tailed it down.

" _Foul, corrupt, and narcissistic! That's what Morgan is, and the people look like Cocoyashi just after Arlong arrived. The fake smiles, slight shuffle in their step, and the air of hopelessness..."_ Nami with her experience with such things could tell at a glance that this was just like Cocoyashi.

" _I couldn't do anything about it because it is a marine in charge, but then this pirate comes along and swears to free them? What is his game? There's no pirate who would do such a thing! He's probably going to extort this village! I will not let that happen!"_

Eventually passing a large set of double doors, she assumed that this was an office of a higher-up, most likely Morgan, and entered. She looked around and rummaged through a large desk with an equally large chair behind it. There was a pile of papers on the left side, and behind the desk was a large bay window facing the town below. A smaller version of the statue that was up on the rooftop was to the right of the window, and the right wall was lined with barrels,

" _Surprisingly simple for a narcissist."_ She mused.

After spending a few minutes looking through the room, desk, statue, and finding nothing she started to walk out only to look at the barrels suspiciously. Investigating behind them, she saw a door to a safe. _"Jackpot."_

Moving the offending barrels aside, she cracked the safe only for her eyes to turn into beri signs as she reached for the gold bars and diamonds inside. Her hand stopped as her hand brushed a diamond the size of a blueberry. Her eyes soften and she sighed resigned at what she knew she had to do. _"These people need this more than me, I'll leave it."_

About to get up and walk away, she noticed a map at the very back of the safe. Her inner navigator's curiosity was piqued. Grabbing and opening it, she saw that it was a treasure map for an island in the shape of a perfect circle except for a channel heading to the center, where there was a circular lake. _"I think I'll take this. It's not like if the marines find this, the townspeople would get a single beri out of it."_ Leaving the room and safe open for prying eyes, she left.

Following the hall, she came across a room marked with a white sign surrounded by a flowery wreath that read, 'HELMEPPO'S ROOM KEEP OUT'. Grinning in victory, she opened the door to be blinded by pink, white, and gold. Jaw dropping as she realized this looked similar to the Beautiful Swan, she shivered in disgust, _"Alvida's ship, while horrendous, at least made sense for a girl to have a pink room, what makes this room bad is that it's not a girl."_

Looking around, she spotted a white vanity with a pink seat, a mirror trimmed in gold, a pink heart-shaped bed. What was worse and a bit unsettling was the makeup on the vanity. As she walked farther into the pink hell she stumbled as the building shook. _"What was that? Are cannon rounds hitting the building?... That can't be right we're too far from the shore."_ Shrugging it off she continued her search. Finally finding the swords next to the mirror, she grabbed them. Taking a closer look, all three were the same, a black cloth wrapped handle accented by the red handle underneath. They had a bronze tsuba and a black sheath. She clutched them tightly and fled the room of horrors, not even bothering to close the door.

As she ran down the hallway back to the staircase the walls in front of her exploded, she screamed as smalls stone pelted her bruising her as she fell. After a moment of confusion, she slowly got up on her feet, wince as her right ankle flared in pain. She looked at the damage mouth agape as she saw the damage, she could see the floor below and above her, and through the next three rooms. Curiosity overriding her sense of safety she gazed out to see what could tear into a building, seeing two figures clashing in the execution she could only gape as she saw them fight. Cold sweat covered her skin as a thought ran through her mind _"What did I get into."_

* * *

" _I underestimated him."_ The thought ran through Luffy's mind after a bleeding wound from a surprise **rankyaku** from Morgan's ax. He dodged and weaved around everything Morgan threw at him, realizing that this battle was going to be a tad more difficult than he expected.


	4. C4A1 The Ax has Fallen

**Chapter 4 East Blue Arc 'The Ax has Fallen'**

 **Hey, y'all I'm back. A lot has happened since…dear lord, has it really been over two months? Wow. Well, since then I have moved 2,000 miles, started up school and gotten a new job, so I now that I settled in I should be able to put out some chapters in my…one day of free time…damn. Well between work and school I am busy seventy-five hours a week so don't expect too much, if I can I'll try for a chapter every 3 weeks.**

 **Published: 3/12/2017**

 **Updated:**

 **Beta:**

Luffy grinned as Captain Morgan charged at him; he prepped his body to dodge the up and coming strike from said captain. Suddenly Morgan accelerated to a surprising speed swinging his ax to split Luffy from right shoulder to left hip. Jumping back, dodging the ax he saw with no small amount of surprise a shimmer extend from the ax blade. Being too close to dodge or in the right position to swerve out of the way with **kami-e** , he tensed his muscles up in **tekkai** taking the blow across the chest blood splattered on the roof as his shirt and skin split. Noticing more **rankyakus** flew from Morgan's ax he dodged and weaved around them until he used **soru** to appear Morgan dropping an ax kick down onto his head.

Morgan turned his head, seeing the attack coming, he shifted his body to take the attack on the shoulder. The ax kick struck a loud clap as two hard objects connected and the rock cracked below them. Dodging a side slash with a few back flips he landed in a crouched position, his muscles set between loose and tense in preparation. Holding his wounded chest he observed his opponent with a careful eye, " _I underestimated him…"_ Luffy thought with a frown _"…rankyaku, soru, and tekkai. This will be hard than I thought."_ Hearing another roar Luffy sent a **rankyaku** at the charging Marine, before launching up into the air using **geppo**. Taking advantage of his aerial advantage Luffy rained down **rankyakus** and **tobu ken taihos** down onto the roof, gouges were rent and craters embedded into the stone roof. The Marines on top slowly trying to get to the stairs to exit while praying for protection.

Morgan dodged and weaved around the attacks, gazing up at Luffy with an intense stare, watching every move that he made. Suddenly, with a mighty leap, he was upon Luffy once more with a powerful swing to, once again, try and cleave the boy in two. Luffy dodged out of the way going to strike at Morgan's open back, surprisingly Morgan was able to dodge to the side in mid-air. A pause from the action settled between the two as the observed each other.

Rushing in with and striking Morgan down onto the roof once more. Rushing in with a stronger ax kick Morgan dodged it, the roof collapsing from the force of the strike. With another swing of the ax and another dodge, the deadly dance continued. Luffy dodged another **rankyaku** it continued past him and split the stairway leaving the top half to fall to the ground below with a mighty crash. The great ax and a punch met once again a small wind spread out from the point of contact from the force behind the strikes. The force of the strike sent the two fighters away from each other. Gazing one another waiting for one to make a move a silence settled between the two opponents. The wide open stares and dropped jaws appeared on the faces of the observing marines, they felt something that they haven't felt in a while, hope; a kid was fighting up against their oppressive captain and was holding his own. They wanted this nightmare to end, so they silently cheered for the kid.

Leaned forward and launched forward at a speed that surpassed anything that he had done before, both arms cocked back ready to strike; he rammed his fists into the stomach of Captain Morgan. Unable to dodge fast enough Morgan tensed up in **tekkai** ; while his **tekkai** was impressive it couldn't handle the double punch that Luffy threw. Receiving his first injury of the fight, spit and blood burst from his mouth, pain erupted from his stomach, breaking his stance, the momentum carried in the strike carried both of them through the roof's barrier out into the sky falling towards the ground of the execution field. Luffy took advantage of Morgan's recovery and grappled him and using **kamisori** accelerated down slamming Morgan into the ground. The ground shook as the mass slammed into the ground, rending the earth in the immediate area, throwing up a large cloud of dust, and burying Morgan in a five-foot deep crater. Performing a few flips and rolls to not receive damage from his own strike Luffy eventually came to a stop in front of a shocked and awed duo of Zoro and Coby who were watching with eyes bulged out and jaws drop at the damage from the strike, while next to them Akitsu looked on in boredom.

As the dust cloud slowly dispersed a large shadow appeared, ax arm cocked back. Morgan swung with all his might throwing the largest **rankyaku** yet. The blade of wind rushed forward going over the crouching Luffy and Akitsu, who also grabbed Zoro and Coby forcing them to the ground, Slicing through the cross, the wall behind it, and most of the way through the next wall. Luffy threw his own **rankyaku** using his hand as a pivot point he threw an even larger one that clipped Morgan on the left pectoral and shoulder, throwing him back while drawing out a spray of blood. The air blade rammed into the marine building slicing through it a third of the way into it, cutting across three floors, shaking the building with a great rumble.

Rushing forward once again Luffy and Morgan clashed, punches met flesh, kicks thrown, blades dodged, blows rained down on each other in a rapid staccato while the moving bodies disappearing to the average audience, and blurring for the higher skilled battlers, only one pair of half-lidded eyes could track the fast movements. The destruction of the grounds was tremendous craters blasted into existence, fissures were gouged out of the earth, and the earth shook. In the center of the destruction were an angry marine captain and a smiling pirate. Morgan, using his greater mass, threw Luffy across the grounds, landing on his hands and feet he skidded across the hard soil gouging out a path until he came to a stop. A shadow covered Luffy as Morgan came with an overhead strike. Dodging out of the way of the strike, which continued on to split the wall in its path, with **kami-e** Luffy countered with a mule kick throwing Morgan up into the up into the air after the marine, Luffy entered the arena that he had the advantage, liberally using **kamisori** he struck out from every which way, raining blow upon blow onto the sturdy captain.

Morgan could not escape the strikes, for he did not have the maneuverability in the air that his opponent, every time he redirected himself he was intercepted, every time he struck out, the attack was dodged, all he could do was use his superior **tekkai** to endure through it. Then he started to feel tired from the hardest fight he had fought, he felt his **tekkai** getting weaker from exhaustion, slowly the blows dealt more damage, bit by bit the attacks drew more blood, cause him to flinch more before he took an attack the broke through his defenses. It was then that it was over, unable to get his **tekkai** back up the blows rained down on him did damage to their fullest capability, slowly his consciousness slipped further and further into darkness, then his back hit the gates of the base crumpling them into an unrecognizable mess as a great amount of pain finally took him into unconsciousness.

Landing in front of Zoro, Coby, and Akitsu he turned to them, feeling the adrenaline flowing through his veins. He let out a joyous laugh as Akitsu ran to him. Noticing Nami in the marine base he waved her over, from this distance it looked as if she was sad, but he could just be imagining things.

Coby just stood there, staring at the destruction around him. The fight scared him, knowing that he would have to gain enough strength to fight on that level if he wanted to accomplish his dream. All he could sense of the fight was a lot of sounds and the destruction of execution marine base. His knees and hands shook, not in fear but in anticipation. For if someone like Luffy and Morgan could gain that strength he could too. He gathered his will and promised himself that he would grow to be stronger than those two he would become a marine admiral.

Nami just stared horrified at what just happened in front of her, the two that just fought reminded her of Arlong. She shook if fright, mind flashing through all the things that Luffy could do to this town. Tears gathered in her eyes as she realized that she couldn't do anything, she was too weak to fight him. Zoro, from the looks of him, couldn't swing a sword. The only one that could hold up against the pirate was down, even if he won he was just as bad. Walked towards him in resignation of her situation when she saw him wave at her, hoping that she could find a way to escape later.

Zoro just watched in awe at the level of the fighters in front of him; his nutrient, water, and sleep deprived mind could barely see the blurs of movement. Adrenaline surged through his weak body, he licked his dry lips with a barely wet tongue in excitement. _"I can't believe that there are people of this level…I definitely made the right decision."_ Letting out an excited chuckle he stood up…only to fall down on his face due to his weakness _"Fuck."_

Akitsu rushed over to Luffy gazing at his injuries, the most noticeable being the large cut going from his right shoulder to his left hip, blood flowing from it, multiple smaller cuts littered his arms and legs. He had a barely noticeable limp from his right leg, no major cut visible so it was probably from blunt force. In spite of the damage he took, Luffy had a large smile on his face. They heard a loud shout from the entrance of the compound, turning they saw a group of marines at the entrance staring at Morgan's body in stunned silence. Suddenly they heard a familiar voice crying out in joy

"Big Brother did it!"

* * *

Ririka had a hard life, she was abandoned as a child to the streets of Loguetown feeding off any scraps she could find, she eventually found a group of misfits like herself. At the age of fourteen the group, which called themselves the Dumpster Dragons, where able to gain employment on a trade ship as chore boys and girls. It was a harsh life, the seas were unforgiving, work was hard, the sailors rough, but eventually they broke through and got accepted into the family know as the crew of the Cissonius. It was there that she experienced the joy of cooking when she joined the on board sea chefs.

When she turned twenty-five she married a fellow Dumpster Dragon, Randal, after another year she found out she was pregnant and decided that a ship was no place to raise a child so they said goodbye to her family and took their life savings and started their new life as a bartender and chef duo in the R 'n' R Bar. After birthing her beautiful daughter Rika she thought life couldn't get better. Well, she was right; three years later Randal died from an accident. The Cissonius made frequent stops at Shells Town with it being a major Marine base; during one stop her husband decided to help his old crew and helped them unload. Unfortunately, a new worker didn't tie the rope around the crate properly and it fell on top of Randal killing him instantly.

The crew mourned and cried together in an extended stop there, they promised to help her any way she could. They couldn't stay there forever and had to leave eventually. Raising her daughter as a single mother that also ran a bar was difficult; the few friends that she had made it easier, the stops from her old crew which exclusively ate at the R 'n' R didn't hurt either. Then eight years after her husband's death came a newly promoted Captain Morgan. His harsh laws were nearly unbearable, getting progressively worse as time went by, the offer to smuggle Ririka and Rika out was made by the crew of the Cissonus was denied. She just couldn't abandon the dreams, aspirations, and the work she and Randal put into this place. At this moment she couldn't have regretted her decision more.

Bound because she struggled, gagged to stop her pleads of mercy for her daughter, and being dragged to her death along by grim-faced marines along with her daughter was the worst end she ever imagined. Raising her tear filled eyes to the sky she prayed to the gods, the sea, and to her husband for a miracle to happen. As they approached the marine base they saw something that sent shivers through the marines, a large gash in the side of the main building. One man whispered something about the captain being in a bad mood which only sent a fresh wave of wails out from the captives; the man in question got disapproving stares and a slap across the back of his head. When they got to the entrance they noticed that the wall on the right collapsed and the wall on the left had damage done to it. They paused when they heard a series of strikes against flesh before with a load crash and the shriek of bending metal a large body crashed into the main doors. Looking on in shock they saw Captain Morgan bruised, bloody, unconscious, and defeated lying on the remains of the main gate.

With renewed vigor, Rika struggled out of her bonds, her gag slipping enough for her to shout in joy "Big Brother did it!"

That phrase sent off a chain reaction shouts of joy came from everyone, Lieutenant Nagato untied both of his captains. Pushing the marine out of the way hard enough to send him to the ground she grabbed her daughter crying for joy while Rika shouted praises to a big brother Luffy, whoever that was.

Suddenly Rika flew out of her hands getting up to run after her she noticed that she ran up to a young farmer that return Rika earlier, this time he was wounded. _"Did he fight Morgan?"_ She decided then and there that she would provide whatever he needed. Noticing that the pretty woman was carrying the kind young swordsman from a few weeks ago, Zoro, over her shoulder she ran over and inspected him. Idling noticing that more and more marines exited the building adding their voices to the celebration.

"He's fine; Zoro just needs a good meal." Turning to the voice she realized that the farmer boy spoke. "I never got to introduce myself, I'm Monkey D. Luffy."

"Well nice to meet you Mr. Monkey, if all you need is a meal, I'll happily provide it for free; all you can eat back at my bar."

"Shishishi, you'll regret that decision, we can eat a lot." Ending the sentence with a large smile Ririka couldn't help but laugh.

"I'll never be able to pay you back for what you did, a feast is the least I can do."

"Thank you, young man." Turning to the voice Luffy saw that it was the marine lieutenant that spoke while approaching him. Bowing to Ririka the Captain said, "I am truly sorry for the crimes we have been letting our former captain commit."

Smiling nervously Ririka, with waving hands, was quick to reassure the lieutenant of his lack of guilt. "I-It wasn't your fault he was stronger than you and kept your family hostage; you just did what you had too."

Bowing even lower the lieutenant said with great determination "Even so, we, the marines, now that we are free will strive to serve true justice to the citizens of this town instead of the corruption that was once here."

"Thank you, lieutenant." Ririka could do nothing but thank the marine for his promise and bow in gratefulness.

"Young man what is your name?" turning to Luffy the Nagato straightened into a formal posture.

Noticing that she wasn't needed for this conversation she decided to tell her daughter to bring their saviors to the bar for their promised feast. With horror, she noticed what was happening to Rika. "RIKA!" screaming her daughter's name as she ran as fast as she could she pushed Rika out of the way of the looming danger. She felt a blade dig deep into her side, she felt pain unlike she ever felt before as her side was sliced wide open before falling to the ground. She heard the desperate cries of her daughter along with a chorus of shouts, and a large crash. Through the pain she concentrated on her crying daughter, vaguely noticing that she was begging for mom to not leave her. She reached up with a bloody shaking bloody hand and rest it lovingly against her daughter's cheek. Coughing up blood she felt her body become numb as her life fluids left her. As the darkness encroached onto her vision she said her last words, "I love you Rika." Smiling before darkness took her. Her last sight was seeing her daughter cry into her hand.

* * *

"My names Monkey D Luffy." Replied Luffy as he held out his hand.

Taking the hand Nagato gave it one firm shake before releasing it. "I am Lieutenant Nagato, now that the previous ranking officer is unable to perform his duties, I have been giving the task of taking charge of this base."

Eyes narrowing, "I hope you won't continue where the Morgan left off." replied Luffy, voice hard.

A shiver ran down the spine of the lieutenant, "No, I won't. In fact, I need to report the occurrences to my superiors, so that justice may be served."

Studying Nagato for a moment Luffy came to a conclusion and nodded once. A large smile formed on the face of Luffy, "Shishishi, good. Do you have a piece of paper and a pen on you by any chance."

Eyebrow raised in curiosity, in reached into his pocket and hand Luffy what he asked for. After Luffy wrote something on it, he returned the paper. Looking at it Nagato recognized it as a den-den mushi number.

"Instead of reporting to your direct superiors report to this guy, it'll be better that way."

"Who-" Nagato went to ask whose number was this before a shout of terror reached their ears.

"RIKA!"

Swinging their heads to the sound they noticed that Morgan was up and was in the middle of a downward swing towards a terrified Rika. Before either could react, due to shock, Ririka shoved her daughter out of the way receiving the blow herself. Blood gushed out of the wound like a fountain, a scream of pain ripped out of the throat of the woman. "MOM!"

Lunging forward with a roar of rage, Luffy threw a punch, only Akitsu noticing the shimmer of power that wrapped around his fist. The punch met with Morgan's sternum a nasty crunching sound of the sternum and ribs breaking from the power of the punch, blood gushed out of Morgan's mouth from the damage. As he flew back, Akitsu appeared behind him, claws extended and threw a few slices as he passed by, immobilizing him. He crashed into the base of the marine building. A scream of rage flew from Luffy's mouth as he threw another power infused punch. A rumble went through the building shaking it to its core, the building and the ground shook and cratered from the punch as Luffy pushed more power into it. The building finally couldn't take it as it collapsed on top of Morgan.

Rushing back with Akitsu behind him he couldn't stop himself from gasping at the damage, the attack sliced clean through her, opening up a gaping wound from her right side through the spine, and into her heart. Blood gushed out of her flooding the ground, staining the ground. Blood came out of her mouth as the rapidly dying woman said her final words to her beloved daughter "I love you Rika."

"DAMN IT!" Unable to do anything to help the dying woman Luffy could just let out a yell of rage and frustration. His fists clenched so tightly his knuckles and fingers turned white. Tears filled his eyes as he gazed at the sad scene before him.

* * *

Rika, when her mother started talking to big brother Luffy, decided to walk around since ever since the mention of food his attention was firmly locked on to her mommy. As she gazed at the cheering marines she couldn't help but smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something turning to it she realized that she was looking at the beaten Captain Morgan. An unsettling look of anger came across her face as she rushed towards the body. Arriving at it, she gazed in awe at the size of the monster. "Big brother defeated this…" a large smile appeared on her face "…wow he's strong." Turning she took a step away before pausing, after a moment of deliberation, she came to a conclusion. She turned back and spat on Morgan, the spit landing on his face, before blowing a blueberry at him and turning to go back to mom. Hearing a noise behind she turned back to face an awake and rising Morgan. The wounds and blood on him making him all the more terrifying he raised his ax from a crouching position he swung down.

Suddenly Rika was pushed out of the way, rolling across the ground she got up to see who pushed her only to see her mom on the ground, "MOM!" running to her she slide to her mom's side uncaring of the blood that got on her clothes, hands, and legs. She cried out to her. "MOMMY! Stay with me, please!"

She watched as Ririka put her bloody hand on her cheek stroking it softly, blood came from her mouth as she said the last words "I love you Rika."

Grabbing the hand on her cheek Rika cried out unable to see beyond her tear filled eyes. "Please mommy don't leave me, please mommy, please!" Rika watched helplessly as her mom's eyes glazed over, she felt her mother's hand gain weight no longer supported by the woman's muscles. She let go of the hand as she shook her mom's shoulders "Please mommy, please wake up." Turning to someone next to her unable to see who it was through her tears she cried "Please someone get a doctor we need to help her." Seeing no movement she cried again. "Please someone help." A blurry shape came close, bending down and picking her up murmuring comforting words into her ear. She wrapped the person in a hug and buried her face into the soft chest and cried, and cried, and cried until she could cry no more. Her young mind unable to handle what just happened shut down.

* * *

Three days have passed since the defeat of Captain Morgan and the death of the much loved Ririka, the whole neighborhood attended the funeral, along with some marines. The marines felt responsible for the death of the mother because they didn't keep a close enough eye on Morgan. Immediately after cleaning up the blood on the ground and respectfully moving the body to a nearby morgue the dug out the broken body of Morgan, surprisingly he was still alive, if barely. He was tightly chained up and put in the most secure cell they had, at least six muskets were trained on him at all times, with six more standing by, they swore that he wouldn't harm anyone again. Helmeppo was locked up in his own cell, though he only had one marine guarding him.

Nami looked at the little girl, Rika, and she sat curled up on Luffy's lap, head against his chest while he softly stroke her hair, bloodshot eyes gazed at nothing, dark bags hung under her eyes. She just sat there not doing anything. Finally like waking up from a long dream she stirred, gaining the attention of the four in the room, Luffy, Nami, Akitsu, and Zoro.

Looking up at Luffy with a pleading expression she asked the most unexpected question. "Take me with you, please?"

* * *

Lieutenant Nagato lowered his hand then talked to the young marine next to him. "You have good friends, boy." Coby could do nothing except shakily nod his head. To the surrounding marines, he yelled out. "We have broken the code of the marines by saluting those pirates…" yes he knew that they were pirates he received a lieutenant Adams "…for punishment we shall not eat for a week and increase our work shifts by half."

Saluting the lieutenant they yelled out, "Sir! Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed."

* * *

Entering the temporary office, since the first one was in shambles from the fight' Nagato looked at the small piece of paper he received from the pirate, _"No not a pirate, a hero, no matter how much he denies it."_ wondering whose number it was. Finally, he decided that there was no harm in calling the number.

He picked up a den-den mushi and rung the number, after three rings the other end picked up but nothing could have prepared him for who picked up the other line. "This is Admiral Garp speaking, who is this?"

* * *

In lieutenant Adam's ship's brig in a cell by herself, since no one else could fit in with her, was 'Iron Mace' Alvida. Sitting there chained up thinking about the reason she was in this situation. _"Monkey D Luffy, the future Pirate King, the only man to have the guts and strength to stand up to me. The only one to insult my beauty."_ A smile formed on her face as she came to a conclusion. She reached up into her hair and pulled out a strange sight. It could only be described as a mutated pear, pink in color and covered in swirls, it was a devil fruit. She had found it on her base island about three weeks ago, she put off eating it because she didn't know if she wanted too, but kept it in her hair for situations just as this.

Taking a large bite out of it, she gagged at the awful taste, a combination of oil and rotten fish. After swallowing the last bite she felt a fire burn through her body as she felt it change her, unable to deal with the pain she passed out.

Fifteen minutes later she awoke and got up, for some odd reason her clothes grew in size, to the point that she could only wear the shirt and only if she wrapped it around her body like a toga, she ignored the shocked and lustful looks of her former crewmates as she did so. She wondered what kind of power she got, pointing her hand at the bars of her trying out her powers. All she got was that her hand gained a…sheen a lack of a better description. After trying out various ideas she finally gave up and pushed against the bars, surprised as she slides through, which did…interesting…things to her body causing her former crew to faint from blood loss. After getting out of the cell she ran to a bathroom to think of the next step of her plan but was distracted by the sight of her reflection.

Gasping in shock she put a hand to her mouth. "My freckles are gone…" she leaned in for a better look "…completely, amazing. I like this fruit just for that."


End file.
